that it is just as well we consider any fight is allied with the free syrian army to be part of our troops concerning that if you take an unacceptable position or make serious mistakes those people will be punished with their extremists liberals or fight is of the free syrian army yes mistakes have been made we have contacted our kurdish brothers seeking reassurance that these things will not happen again but no one responded the kurds have troops who are willing to cooperate with the regime to gain what ptolemy in the north but overall we do support the kurdish people every day are they are. it's clear that the f.s.a. spokesman is seeking to avoid condemning the violence against hundreds of kurds and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their own lands these crimes have been registered officially and the materials have been passed on to the e.u. those who say the al nasra front are fighting a just war against the syrian regime are keeping silent when militants banished kurds from their lands and carry out ethnic cleansing the free syrian army don't talk about these attacks we don't kn

we consider any fight is allied with the free syrian army to be part of our troops concerning that if you take an unacceptable position or make serious mistakes those people will be punished with their extremist liberals or fighters of the free syrian army yes mistakes have been made we have contacted our kurdish brothers seeking reassurance that these things will not happen again but no one responded the kurds have troops who are willing to cooperate with the regime to gain what twenty in the north but overall we do support the kurdish people every day i am. it's clear that the f.s.a. spokesman is seeking to avoid condemning the violence against hundreds of kurds and the ongoing expulsion of our people from their own lands these crimes have been registered officially and the materials have been passed on to the e.u. those who say the al nasra front are fighting a just war against the syrian regime are keeping silent when militants banished kurds from their lands and carry out ethnic cleansing the free syrian army don't talk about these attacks we don't know which groups are a part of

and others are assisting the free syrian army a heck of a lot more effectively than we are in giving them help, that we have not given them. and by the way, i understand the request by the free syrian army. for gas macks has been refused by the united states, by the cia and our government. all i can tell you is that america must lead and america is not leading and that is apparent to every nation in the region. and the arab league not signing on is an indication of their lack of trust, that the united states will do what is necessary. maybe just they're worried as i am that it will be a cosmetic few cruise missiles and then stop. >> in light of the fact that this is all open. everyone is talking about it. there are no big secrets about what we are planning to do. maybe the specifics but generally, why not do it, it has been suggested to have a robust debate in congress rather than having this shuttle diploma circumstance sending peel to the white house to talk. why not lay this out so the american people can see what the security allegations or suggestions are by various members of th

by you know western diplomats if they don't give the control of these oil fields towards the free syrian army. they will have a problem and the kurds they said this is all of the syrian people they had an agreement with the syrian government in damascus to keep the production going so that this oil could go to the top two center homes to. actually the syrian population so i think it's a fight about control of about the resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request current thinking the program can look from their journals recently back from syria we re pretty sure your time thank you thank you very much now it's exactly six months till the lympics flame is lit in sochi for the twenty fourteen winter games it's nearly with a script long been there though to question if the result cities got what it takes to become the capital of winter sports for a fortnight modern andras had a self to check up on the preparations them. ok i'm not too bad but i think it's best to leave it to the professionals when they arrive next year in tsotsi for the winter olymp

most prominent amongst the rebel forces of course well yes it is very confusing because the free syrian army which is what the united states consistently says they're supporting it sort of the primary rebel army as it were is really a collection of different type of fighters that have you know variety of different things some that are affiliated with political parties and religious movements like the muslim brotherhood some that are based on neighborhood region where this city there are also some that are just sort of generally secular cobbled together in different ways and then on the other hand in sort of the most effective form of fighters which everyone is has put forward or groups like. the islamic state of syria and which are some people call them salafi groups some people call them jihadi groups what i believe is a little bit of a slur towards the muslim people but nevertheless that are drawn from this mill you have individuals that support this hardline interpretation of islam and that have drawn in a number of foreign fighters from around the world libya egypt tunisia afghanistan ru

first the free syrian army as the gentleman from miami referred to was he says that they have defected and they went because the one through to shoot any civilians or children on the other side if they were armed by the western powers there. civilians but just because we have a different group. doesn't make the enemy that was brian becker a national coordinator at the answer coalition ahmed foxey a middle east analyst and was most often the executive director for the syrian of emergency task force. and while the u.s. considers action in syria in the wake of evidence suggesting the use of chemical weapons a startling new revelation from foreign policy magazine shows that the u.s. played a role in helping saddam hussein use that sarin gas to defeat iranian troops back in one nine hundred eighty eight here's how according to declassified cia documents that were discovered in the national archives in maryland using a satellite images u.s. intelligence officials conveyed to blow the location of iranian troops to iraq fully aware that hassan hussein's military would attack with chemical weap

first the free syrian army as the gentleman from miami referred to was he sees that they have defected and they went because the one through to shoot any civilians or children on the other side if they were armed by the western powers they are going to turn around and shoot other civilians but just because they have a different political conviction doesn't make them the enemy and we're going to end it there unfortunately bryan factor a national coordinator at the answer kollection octet foxy a middle east analyst and was mostafa political director of the syrian emergency task force this conversation to go on for days thank you so much for joining me gentlemen and making it possible. thank you. and while the u.s. considers action in syria in the wake of evidence suggesting the q set of chemical weapons a startling new revelation from foreign policy magazine shows that the u.s. played a role in helping saddam hussein using get this sarin gas to defeat iranian troops back in one thousand eight here's how according to declassified cia documents there were discovered that were discovered at

one of the cities the government is waging a war against the what is called free syrian army. and craig. of terrorists like. you and. the islamic state of lebanon iraq and other terrorist units and groups. and the syrian free army the faces of terrorists every now and then the notes that with them. probably if someone thinks that if one shells all the infrastructure there raises it to the ground. with the good use of my good would be allowing the opposition. to win it's an illusion even if the you make dury of their position is there. the civil war will continue but the the current government will become the opposition and the original has a number of instances to sites. to colleagues bearing in mind these should deal with the so we will take two more questions couple more questions come of new spade broadsheet newspaper. thank you so much to give it to rich i have seen him. a request to you could you specify on the mechanism of the commission's operational does not have a mandate i can see. to specify who exactly committed that attack but if it it's establishes that there was

and right now on the ground, he is not even one of the most or the free syrian army is not even necessarilyhe most powerful group. when you go around syria, and i was just back in the other day, and i've been many times, you see checkpoints fly aggravate of flags, including the al qaeda flag. so you don't know who is going to win. and i think the more likely scenario is breaking up of the country where you have al qaeda-linked groups taking one part, kurdish groups, pkk, which are also considered a terrorist group taking other parts. you have the faction that we like, the free syrian army holding a piece, and the remnants of the government holding either damascus or coastal areas around lebanon. >> well, thank you very much, richard engel over in that area. and by the way, it looks like as i said at the start of this segment, it looks like we're going in there on thursday. that's two days now with apparently three days of strikes. apparently their capabilities to launch further attacks to use chemical weapons. this is "hardball," the place for politics. too big. too small. too soft. too tas

the free syrian army, the moderate opposition, is not yet done enough to control all the territories. it will take multiple countries involved to make sure it is not implode and that after assad the parts that some level of stability is maintained. >> we appreciate your time, as always. israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has warned that it will respond powerfully if attacked by syria. both the military and civilian populations are per pairing for the worst. >> as a possible strike on syria looms, israelis line up by the thousands for gas masks. they have been at this tel aviv distribution spot since don. most say threats from damascus and tehran to hit israel if attacked do not frighten them. but overcrowded handout centers present a difficult -- different image. >> parents have been calling me on skype everyday telling me to get a gas mask. now they say that next time i am on skype tonight that i have to show them that me and my brother have a gas mask in order to be safe in this country right now. >> you think something is going to happen? >> i do not think so. it is my wife.

invest in these local governance councils, invest in the free syrian army to the point where we can actually insure the position. as we speak i can tell you there are battalions of other free syrianal lays other extremist that is are basically trying to fill in a lot of vacuums that have been created by the assad regime intentionally to create that contrast. >> so many aspects to this controversial. thank you for being with us tonight. yasir, you're going to stick around with us a little longer. what will become of the millions of refugees, it already is the most traumatic humanitarian situation we've faced since rwanda and genocide. we'll join hermela aragawi, >> this among syria hit a new desperate milestone. and the majority of these children are under 11 years old. many have traveled alone or separated from their families. 14-year-old ahmed is one of half a million refugees in jordan. he has already buried his brother. >> my brother has been killed and my sister suffered a brain injury. in the end we brought both of them. >> thank you both for staying with us. we're trying to connect wit

. >> reporter: the leader of the free syrian army tells us that he hopes three days of military strikes will just be enough to topple the regime, that it could weaken bashar al assad's grip on power just enough that the syrian rebels will be able to finish the mission and drive him from power. in order to do that, the leader of the free syrian army told us that in conjunction with a western military action that the rebels will launch their own offensive. they've already begun the stockpile ammunition. some new ammunition has been arriving. they have been confirmed to us. the question now is what will that leave the united states and what will it leave syria if the bashar al assad is toppled? there are many different rebel factions operating in syria. only a few of them are friendly to the united states. richard engle, nbc news, southern turkey. >>> now moving west, we are getting a new vantage point of that massive wildfire near yosemite and it has grown overnight. nbc's miguel almaguer is near the fire line. he spent much of the time with crews fighting the flames through the air. >> r

reaction of what they call the the islamic state and the two groups be serious was because it's the free syrian army with which. what they call the free syrian army the military knows and besides the islamist but what they have is the means by growing all these to go because they are trying to establish a free zone or what what we can call it this is in the interest of turkey would be arabia especially after the mission of one who is leading the now the syrian opposition and they are trained to meet republicans younger we want to make a new pylons between here and government what the current call it opposition but merely the opposition who are fighting the are foreign earth there are not to most of them syria and the person to foreigners including inside this globes they are very high and i think the international person mentioned yesterday or two days ago in new york times mentioned there are six thousand and fourteen others including from new york. from. russia and different groups saw the reports they are part of this your society they are targeting all people who are against the. record there is

by you know western diplomats if they don't give the control of these oil fields towards the free syrian army. they will have a problem so i think it's a fight about control of both about resources of the various groups because the kurds are not going to deliver to their request. if the massacre proves to them is a natural event to be expected during war times this is according to a free syrian army spokesman who was challenge on the claims by r.t. is wearing a joshing regarding the syrian matrons populated mostly with kurds in the event the conflicts are normal phenomenon simply because the syrian regime stands behind it to weaken the opposition and divide it and make it fight with each other in the regime. from tension between the opposition and radicals and terrorist. organization in response to all the florida killings and the arsenic cleansing in new york country. there is no ethnic cleansing in the f.s.a. its mission is not to massacre nor ethnically cleanse the f.s.a. it was established to defend civilians in villages and cities it's the regime which is practicing ethnic cleansing agai

characterize the free syrian army soldiers that you've met and worked with.s this a fair criticism? >> yes, sure. first, i want to say real quickly that this isn't like iraq in terms of speaking about weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist there. we know that there are chemical weapons in the hands of the syrian regime. we know that he has used them in the past with unequivocal evidence. we know that by no means do the rebels have the deliverry systems if they even in a crazy world got chemical weapons to use them. and we know that it took five days for the inspectors to go in and inspect. so the regime, if they had nothing to hide they should have let them in right away. now that being said to go to your question, it is very important that first of all everybody wants a political solution and everybody wants this crisis to end. i think the syrian people are incredibly tired. but if we do arms flowing to syria or not, whether the united states or west arms or not and they're going to different groups and sometimes not the right people at all. and it's

terrorists, free syrian army, i don't know. but they put him and shut him look an animal. >> an armed group linked to al qaeda. the sheer number of refugees crossing the border means resources are stretched. this is a mammoth operation. the u.n. are registering between 25 and 50 tents a day. put it is a slow process and there are some people who haven't been given tents yet. but they sleep outdoors. the u.n. agency say they are in sprit need of assistance. >> after that provision of food, winter is around the corner, we also have to think i in advancef winter eyation. >> how long it will be here for is unknown. serious conflict drags on and the spillover into the region is clear for all to see. and that's right. you've seen what the conditions are like for this camp behind me. but there are a number of camps. a lot of them set up like this in any empty space they can find. this for the moment is far from an ideal situation but the refugees we have been speaking to are relieved. if they are here a year, year and a half, that rel

let me answer this then i mean do we know that certain west allies have been supporting the free syrian army or the rebels who are fighting who are against the assad regime obama yesterday spoke by phone with mr added one of his allies within the syria question that's happening there their support for that what do you think they would have touched on on what is happening right now in terms of these very fied alarming reports that we're getting that those rebels who they all me will helping to arm fide the assad regime are actually could be committing these crimes. i think it's becoming clearer from the point of view these escalation doesn't look good on turkey because. i don't have any evidence to suggest they've been directly by the government but obviously the money and the logistical support which the book of information is getting is making its way into these guys are. very well equipped very well armed and financed as well so from turkish point of view i think slowly the turkish government is realizing that they need to act quickly and swiftly come in and try to limit the group's. power

a spokesman for the free syrian army, president obama is sending contradictory messages.e promises delays. let's bring back our panel. we're joined now by nbc's reporter from beirut. i want to start with you and get your reaction. what are you hearing in reaction to the president's comments today and this idea of a new timetable? >> certainly, there are a few mixed reactions coming out of the region depending on hue ask. if you start by asking the syrian opposition. and it is being portrayed very differently on syrian media. the syrian opposition sources we've been speaking to have been very disappointed. they say that the president had a moral obligation to get involved. not to simply defer the issue to congress. that has been one of the criticisms coming out. syrian state television has now actually been calling this the retreat of president obama that president obama has retreated and knowing that he would have faced dire consequences if there was a syrian, or rather u.s. military action against the syrian government. other countries have been rather muted so far in te

the free syrian army, more secular, muslims is about 100,000 and are under -- under colonel riad it is the other group takes over we have a much better country than if the smaller group takes over an end i do think there is a good option from the current president but has not been announced or preferably i know he was there all weekend and was there with colonel riad so he knows those people and he just got back this morning from syria and turkey so i feel comfortable that source is a good source. lori: the president today assured americans that this engagement would not change of regime but solely be about the chemical weapons deployed. we heard jennifer grins -- griffins report that could cause more casualties if you blow up the chemical weapons and we know the u.s. navy has the warships to fire off the tomahawk missiles. what is the possibility or the likelihood to just remove the chemical weapons? because that is what the president cleaned -- claims is the game changer islamic that is a great question. i don't think that would happen because that would mean boots on the ground we d

the free syrian army of more secular muslims is about 100,000. they are under colonel raid.larger group takes over i think we have a much better country than if the smaller group tries to take over and clearly compared to bashar al assad, he's not good but i do think there's a good option but the administration hasn't announced publicly and i know because my co-author on my book "endgame" it was there all weekend and he was there with colonel raid, so he knows those people and he just got back this morning from syria and turkey, so i feel very comfortable that source is a good source. >> the president today, as you know, assured americans that this engagement would not be to change the regime, it would solely be about the chemical weapons that were deployed. we heard the report the boots on the ground could ultimately cause more casualties if you 31 blow up those chemicals. so, what do you think the possibility of or theis of just removing the chemical weapons, because that, again, is what the president claims crossed the red line and the game-changer? >> that's a great ques

the united states has not given a single gun weapon to the free syrian army. they only gave them mres about to expire. plane loads every day are flying into the airport in damascus with tanks and air and every kind of a weapon you can imagine. it's an unfair fight, piers. >> part of the problem, i think, president obama faces is he set his criteria having said repeatedly he thinks assad should go and look, the red line for me is the use of chemical weapons and now he says he as to act to chemical weapons usage even though there isn't the public evidence that assad directly ordered it, even though many suspect he has but having got to his own red line, he now has to do something. many people say that put him into a difficult position in terms of leadership. >> i think it's put him into a very difficult and contradictory position because this wasn't the first time that bashar al-assad crossed the red line. there are some allegations it was as many as 30 times, absolutely as many as ten and there is no doubt this is chemical weapons. come on. does anybody really

members of the free syrian army -- they are pessimistic about the future regardless of the type of foreign intervention. >> if there are a rates, we have no choice. we have to accept help, but not the ulterior motives. >> this doctor is worried about the impact foreign airstrikes would have on civilians. >> if the air raids weekend the regime, then i agree, but if the real aim is to destroy al qaeda -- jihadist groups who live among the population, then there will be hate from all sides. >> foreign intervention would help make the stalemate, but many feel that military operations might target jihadist groups who are now based in northern syria. >> egypt's muslim brotherhood called for another day of nationwide tests against the country's military backed government after three of the islamist movement's top officials were arrested for inciting violence. stephen carroll reports. >> for weeks, this was the center of the protest movement in support of egypt's ousted president. hundreds died in the clashes that followed. in spite of the camps being dismantled, the calls to return mohamed morsi

. >> the flag of the free syrian army. no mistaking whose side these people are on.en fighting breaks out, he joins in. not because he thinks killing will make a difference, he tells us, but to protect his family from the fighters of jabbar m olsun. khalid says he and his neighbors are forced to fight because they support the syrian people and oppose the a side -- assad regime. >> the war is taking a heavy toll. up to a dozen people have been killed and 200 injured in a single firefight. increasing number of civilians find themselves caught in the crossfire. him, many people here are unemployed. about 30% of the population. but they receive money for fighting. game,e children this is a but most of the adult men are armed. we ask where the weapons come from. >> mostly from russia and iran. they see those countries as political enemies. they buy the weapons from has a -- h has bullock ezbollah leaders. >> civilians here are extremely poor. money for buying weapons comes from wealthy islam is businesspeople. he warns us against going any further. -- site of site people

if it's a paled state, you can have anybody and we are skeptical because there's within the free syrian army there is an element that is very islamist. what if there are these sites who have access to these sites are this kind of islamists. we need to intervene more now than ever. >> here is where i watch this and i think two things, what we see today, again, if confirmed we have to say we cannot verify the video but it does -- these circumstantial picture certainly looks like something truly horrific. >> it looks like iraq. it looks like saddam hussein did in iraq to the kurds. let's remember, enter the iranians when there's a civil war between iran and iraq, saddam hussein used chemical weapons and these are similar image to what we see coming from iraq from the kurdish area and from the iranian area. >> this is the incident in 1980 in which saddam hussein used chemical agents against the kurds. >> exactly. now, you know, he's gaining in the battlefield he's gaining ground. >> assad? >> sorry, assad. and his allies in the region are helping him. iran, hezbollah, and he's looking at egypt a

. >> the days are long gone when the free syrian army was the only group fighting the regime and all of the equipped units are no match for the syrian military. their commander has long called on western powers to do more to help their struggle. with a militant or peaceful exile, the various groups and syria all want to remove the regime from power, but there is no, and plan for the aftermath. many at -- many analysts say this veteran could see the civil war enter and even more violent stage area >> for some analysis, we go live in the studio to a security expert at the german council on foreign relations. will an american attack on syria opened a door, as we saw in that report, it could have been a past elegy for an islamist ascendancy in syria and move the country closer to the kind of radicalism we have seen in egypt and tunisia? >> the american government is doing everything to dampen expectations for what these attacks might accomplish. it is about punishing the assad regime for the use of chemical weapons. it is limited in time and in the number of sorties. it will not change th

if you establish a no-fly zone or support the free syrian army which has been widely reported to be a somewhat splinterred organization. what is the end state we are going to? i think you are seeing how do we end state with the desire to do something in the face of these images. >> elliott, politicians talk about wars. soldiers fight those wars. you have been those boots on the ground, so to speak. as a soldier, you see these images coming in out of syria, see the children suffer from what appears to be a chemical weapons attack. what do you want the administration to do if you are that soldier sitting in the barracks waiting for that trigger to be pulled from the white house? >> the obligation of the administration and/or national security effort is to first and foremost, secure the interests of the united states. >> but you are still a human >> you are still a human. i think what we are seeing right now is a real tension between, as humans, us wanting to do something, and what is that thing we can do that stops this, whether it be a no-fly zone, a cruise missiles being laufrnlingdz

i don't know who they were, terrorists, free syrian army, i don't know but they put my husband in a barrel and shot him like an animal. >> the turkish government opened the border, the sheer numbers of refugees crossing the border means stretched provisions. registering between 25 and 50 tents a day but it is a slow process and there are some that haven't been given tents yet. so they sleep outdoors. the yeunt united nations refugee agency. >> it's extraordinary to think that this vast camp didn't exist. the spillover into the region is clear to see, imran khan, al jazeera. >>> prime minister kevin rugs and opposition leader tony abbott answered questions from hundreds of undecided voters. both promised to tackle head on. >> if you are coming to boat by australia provided by a people smuggler then you'll not be allowed to settle in australia and you will be resettled in other countries who are part and parcel of the regional resettlement agreement specifically papoa new guinea. it is complex, it's difficult, it's hard getting the balance right between doing the right thing by the world and

despite all of the assurances of the various representatives of the free syrian army or the national syrian council who say well we'll make sure they don't get in their hands because we'll keep receipts i'm sorry but receipts aren't going to make it when one force has the capacity militarily to overcome the other force they can't make that kind of a guarantee that they won't fall into those hands it's been true for quite a while that the most powerful militarily of the opposition forces have been the islamist forces allied consciously of their own choice with al-qaeda certainly there will be challenges for the west if there is another permanent stronghold of al qaeda someplace like syria and the danger of al qaeda or other unaccountable forces who have no commitment to international law getting control of weapons of mass destruction that may exist inside inside syria such as chemical weapons that would be disastrous for the spanish the next cross-talk to double standards of a nuclear threat so to speak in half an hour with another news up. everyone respects a promise written in stone

>> we know there have been some explosions in an area that probably the free syrian army suspected that assad might be in . if this is confirmed, this is kind of an important development , regardless of the efficiency of the attack itself. it shows there is some information about his convoys and where he might be. regardless of that, i think there are some new developments in syria now for the first time this year. assad is not any more on the offensive, except in the area of homs. he is on the defensive everywhere in the country. that is why there is this psychological war, the media. the pictures of the prayer in the mosque, we don't know if it was today or the four. -- or before. syrian presidents used to pray at a small mosque in the capital . there are a lot of elements showing that this psychological imperative was a new development .n the revolution on the ground the situation has been -- since they took the city of to say or had shown thend capacity to take over areas they lost before. ziad -- you, ziad. to egypt, where the pro-morsi citizens continue -- sit-ins continue. foreig