yes in terms of the strategic or the minute that it logic of getting the operations in iraq syria and lebanon of course in terms of the israeli military started to doctrine this is and give the necessary action by israel in order to cripple it but our allies weaken the various capacities of iran to project force against israel in the region including myside stalking or missile use or was propositioned of forces position in the forces in syria and lebanon so in the overall this does fit squarely with the israeli doctrine of preemptive strikes even though of this time around we've seen it for the for the 1st time catarrh than iraq and we haven't seen that since $1000.00 what $81.00 against the o.c. iraq a nuclear reactor in iraq so there is an expansion of the operations but israel is of course justify that on the basis that iran is also expanding its projection of influence and the sophistication of the upper of a projection of influence in the region notably in syria and lebanon now there are of course couple of other explanations that do not touch the the heart of the strategic calcu

one is in terms of its intelligence coverage over remember on -- lebanon, syria ad iraq.he second is its ability in air power. israel is able to kind of lop off the low hanging fruits, so to speak, of the iranian project whenever they get too close to looking really dangerous. for example, it appears that israel has prevented an iranian attempt to equip their missiles in lebanon with precision-guided devices. it'll turn them into much more dangerous missiles that would have an accuracy radius of around 10 meters. israel, it a appears, has prevented that. but when it comes to the broader iranian project of, in a certain sense, trying to hollow out those systems and societies in iraq, syria and lebanon and replace them with iran-controlled power structures, yeah, it's very hard to see how that could be prevented by air warfare. i think, frankly, it cannot be. which means what we're looking at is the likelihood of continued iranian attempts to consolidate, probably successful in all three countries, and then as you said, periodic israeli actions to stop the danger from growi

in iraq and syria, and the establishment of a physical caliphate. i think the fight against trans regional extremism is far from over, but we have made significant progress against isis in iraq and syria specifically. david: we will drill down on each of those. let me start with the same military strategy you described. during your tenure, the military strategy of the united states , at least the broad objectives, radically changed. we moved from a government that was really focused on counterterrorism to one that said, russia and china were revisionist powers. that was of the phraseology in the national security assessment. and that the direction of the united states had to be to deal but morethe military, broadly, to deal with matt change. yet when you talk to people within the pentagon, it is hard to change mindsets. we still have active conflicts underway in afghanistan and , obviously, iraq is still a very challenging arena. all these other areas. if we are truly going to focus on russia and china, do we have to give something up? can we continu

but that was is or the start of this is collation last week today with a number of operations in iraq syria and lebanon and it broke past understanding of the last dozen years by that act that deccan has what strongholds so that what we know and we're not surprised that hizbullah responded not while it's true that none or neither party is interested in all out war or a repeat of 2006 but there are a number of calculations and one unintended which is just like wars have unintended consequences escalation also have an intended consequences notably war so those who started the escalation and continue the escalation cannot then cry wolf about there's a war because once you really start inflaming the fire of conflict and of retaliation and country attenuation you need to war there's no doubt about that my sense is that since this was started by prime minister netanyahu is that israel has 3 messages to send or prime minister netanyahu has 3 messages to sent one to iran and hezbollah that israel is watching that israel is not accepting that iran continues to project and to modernize its projection

iraq, somalia, syria, afghanistan. all containing terror groups or stopping ideologies from spreading. how long do you expect the u.s. military will be able to continue to do this, while taking -- keeping the central focus. first of all, where we are in terms of numbers is not the complete story. we are deployed much closer to what i would describe as a sustained great today that we were two or three years ago. we are at or about one or two deployments as well. this is not true in all cases. for those of you who have sons and daughters, and special operations, who say that's not large, that -- it is a one-to employee ratio. we are personally focused on renewing our special operations abilities to make sure we meet the imperatives of the national defense strategy. 18 months ago, our special operations community has begun to reorient. about,sions you talked we are trying -- read -- reorienting special operations nothere we are focused on being complacent and looking back to make sure we get the balance right. ien i came

syria advantage he thought that. as part of his overall. strategy of burden sharing that as the united states did the heavy lifting with at times 15000 ground combat forces in iraq and syria i'm not talking about the air power talking about helicopters helicopters we had a major force in they were involved in considerable combat that the follow on our. stage 4 we call it the. stabilization phase could be done by perfectly competent forces from other coalition countries many of whom are nato countries we know the qualities a true i i that's what he wanted he told us to go out and find our country why couldn't they come up with say 500 or 600 or few more numbers of troops not a bad question however the answer we had to tell him was they would not commit to forces unless there were some american 4 cases the statement in december we have won against isis we've beaten them and beaten them badly and hasn't been borne out by defense and it was left last month to the lead inspector general of your anti isis in the haven't result of operation to inform congress of an altogether different reality you know in the history of 50 years roughly that i've been involved in wars.

united states is able to resolve the united states has failed to resolve the issue in afghanistan iraq syria. and has been the supporter of it ok we have been listening there to that rouhani iranian president speaking at the $7410.00 or less embley of the united nations a strong but inclusive speech they're going through to me and points they are in the end 2015 nuclear deal on the gulf energy crisis we'll be coming back with all the highlights in the next hour all of that or an eventful news day you're watching r.t. international a clue. x. . building. do. you really need evolution. in this if. only you can do so who show you. this in turkey kill me listen to the can with this look at taking a look. at him to. chew through your door. to go. into solution with us and that's a. prize you really like to do is watch and look at the shore borders if the jews in the media a whole bunch for justice. does it so i support bus driver board is the future. yet the. views of the full story of the who still uses for the be inspired by the. president about an unwelcome we need dicey yes ok. in the news i

israel just a few weeks ago would be ron is doing trying to create a sheer crescent between iran iraq syria and lebanon is not just a threat to israel although it's immediate for us because it's along our borders this is a problem for the entire world well i we hope the iranian ambassador to london will be coming on the show soon i just going to have finally ask about the israeli lobby because you may have heard the jeremy coleman the labor leader here in britain is a favorite according to the bookies to be the next prime minister how is this general election in israel going to work visa v the israeli lobby here in britain because presumably you have the jerusalem post alone whatever government happens in israel they're not too fond of jeremy corbett we're not sure about the term the israel lobby it sounds too mischievous and like some sort of conspiracy theory that i might have read back in the 1930 s. but put that aside for a moment the israel's position and jeremy corbyn israel doesn't get involved in the elections of other countries what it does do though is it tries to make sure that a

iran will continue to support terrorist organizations including hezbollah and other militias in iraq syria and yemen iran claims that it is not meddling with countries . domestic affairs however many intelligence many iranian intelligence of says were caught in many countries. iran is also recruiting the nationals in order to. distract them to carry out terrorist attacks the weapons used in many countries including those used in yemen or bahrain are manufactured in and by it was all they were also provided by them the ballistic militias a ballistic missile has just been released as are also manufactured by the including those targeting the kingdom of saudi arabia that this is per se an act of support to terrorism. after the attack on the rest. so it's come clear that the missiles and drones were launched from the north. as i mentioned iran may on many occasions claim that they are seeking peace and stability yet they continue to conduct terrorist hostile attacks the whole world witnessed that that's why this is placed on the state supporting terrorist list this was not by the king of saudi

syria palestine, afghanistan. worldher countries of the , including iraq. ladies and gentlemen. is burning int the flames of war, bloodshed and russian occupation. fanaticism and extremism. and under such circumstances, the suppressive people of palestine are the biggest big him's. appropriation of lands. expansions, and killings continue to be practiced against the palestinians. u.s. and zionist imposed plans such as the deal of the -- as theecognizing capital of the zionist regime, -- toe accession of the the occupied territories are certainly doomed. struct if the u.s. to plans. republic of the iran's regional and international assented -- assistance and cooperation on security and counterterrorism decisive, theuch clear example of such an approach is our cooperation with russia and turkey. format, on the syrian crisis and our peace proposal for yemen in view of our active cooperation with the special envoy of the special general of the united nations, as well as facilitate the conciliation taught among vm and parties with the four european which resulted in the conclusion of

afzal ashraf, violence than even in syria and iraq. aq. afzal ashraf, thank you very much for coming today. the headlines on bbc news: a "a politically motivated attack" — downing street reacts angrily as borisjohnson is referred to the police watchdog over his links to an american businesswoman when he was mayor of london. the labour leader, jeremy corbyn promises to replace the government's controversial welfare policy, universal credit, should they get into power. renewed pressure on the trump administration over its dealings with ukraine — the us secretary of state, mike pompeo, is ordered by democrats to turn over documents connected to the impeachment investigation. protesters in hong kong are holding a rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the start of the so—called ‘umbrella' protests. this is the scene there live now. the original series of pro—democracy demonstrations took place in 2014 — with protestors carrying umbrellas to protect themselves from police pepper spray. the movement has surged again this year with anti—govern

the united states has failed to resolve the issue in afghanistan, iraq, and syria, and has been the supporter of extremism, talibanism, and daeshism. such a government is clearly unable to resolve more sophisticated issues of today. distinguished colleagues, our region is on the edge of collapse. as a single blunder can fuel a big fire. we shall not tolerate the provocative intervention of foreigners. we shall respond decisively and strongly to any sort of transgression to and violation of our security and territorial integrity. however, the alternative and proper solution for us is to strengthen consolidation amongst all the nations with common interests in the persian gulf and the hormuz region. this is the message of the iranian nation. let's invest on hope toward a better future, rather than war and violence. let's return to justice. to peace. to law.

and had been to syria and iraq often we immediately had a good report but at that 1st meeting in 2015 we had little idea of how often we would speak and meet over the next years and every time we met one big question loomed why. can suffer the consequences shut us out she left us without any opportunity to be part of her life. she was a girl who went voluntarily to syria go back in the aisle and welcome to the talk show 2 and a half years after the u.s. withdrawal iraq is at risk of being plunged into chaos also here are a mass safe distance we might pinch ourselves as to the pace at which a few 1000 jihadists a terrorizing an entire country designing their militias are over running around one 3rd of iraq and syria and setting up a ruthless regime of terror. and somewhere in the south declared caliphates was leonora gushing with pride over her husband who went by the name of me heard. me heard it was born martine lemke and was a welder you know mine in germany before joining us where he reportedly came to hold a senior position and i asked intelligence a fellow german i asked for a cr

a major border crossing between iraq and syria is due to be reopened on monday they are crossing has been closed since 2012 to all but government or military traffic the trade route has been seized and controlled by various groups over the past 70 years including syrian rebels and i saw a crossing will now reopened for trade and travel pakistan's prime minister has used his speech at the un general assembly to deliver an extraordinary attack on india's crackdown in indian administered kashmir imran khan want of a bloodbath in the disputed region last month india revoked the semi autonomous status of kashmir a territory under its control in his speech earlier india's prime minister made no mention of kashmir journal reports from the united nations as a nod to the many many never believe the u.n. general assembly was drawing to a close in new york when suddenly it burst grimly back into life pakistan's prime minister decried india's decision to revoke self rule in majority muslim populated indian administered kashmir it was part of a policy he said of hindu nationalism and ethnic clean

just 24 hours after our exclusive report inside iraq and syria. the refugee camps where isis fighters are now living. where children are dancing around the isis flag. tonight, the trump administration responding to our report. >>> getting out alive. reports a cia operative delivering secrets back to the u.s. from deep inside the kremlin. tonight, news on the reported mission to get him out alive and where its believed he is now. >>> and the american family trapped atop a waterfall. putting a message for help on a bottle and sending it down the falls. what happens next. >>> and good evening tonight from houston, where the stage is set for the democratic debate right here on abc, just two days from now. and we're going to have much more on that in just a moment. but we do begin tonight with the other political bombshell, the major shakeup at the white house tonight. president trump firing his national security adviser, john bolton. the president tweeting that he disagreed strongly with many of bolton's suggestions, saying, "your services are no long

actors in iraq and even in syria.i think, going to get worse before it gets better and i'm not sure there are a great set of options in front of the president right now. >> that's not a very optimistic but a very realistic forecast there. >>> coming up next, it's all about iowa. a democratic cattle call at this weekend's steak fry where they don't fry steaks. what are new polls showing with the caucuses just four months away? e caucuses just fouron mth away ♪ plants capture co2. what if other kinds of plants captured it too? if these industrial plants had technology that captured carbon like trees we could help lower emissions. carbon capture is important technology - and experts agree. that's why we're working on ways to improve it. so plants... can be a little more... like plants. ♪ red lobster's endless shrimp is back for just $15.99. get all the shrimp you want, any way you want 'em. like new sriracha-honey shrimp, savory grilled teriyaki shrimp, classic shrimp scampi and more! red lobster's endless shrimp is $15.

syria to go. and welcome to the talk shop 2 and a half years after the u.s. withdrawal iraq is at risk of being plunged into chaos also here are a mass safe distance we might pinch ourselves as to the pace at which a few 1000 jihadists a terrorizing an entire country designing their militias are over running around one 3rd of iraq and syria and setting up a ruthless regime of terror. and somewhere in this self declared caliphate was later nora gushing with pride over her husband who went by the name of me heard. me heard it was born martin limca and was a welder in a mine in germany before joining i.a.s. where he reported. came to hold a senior position in i as intelligence a fellow german i asked recruit would later testify that instead of torturing people himself had others do it for him leonora was getting acquainted with her new home rocca the capital of the i asked color for it she texted her dad about what she'd seen. us. the roundabout was right outside leonora's home. by s. used such violent images as propaganda on the internet in order to recruit new people and inti

and had been to syria and iraq often we immediately had a good reporter but at that 1st meeting in 2015 we had little idea of how often we would speak and meet over the next years and every time we met one big question loomed why is our concern for the massacre and she shut us out she left us without any opportunity to be part of her life. she was a girl who went voluntarily to syria go and talk with the and welcome to the talk show 2 and a half years after the u.s. withdrawal iraq is at risk of being plunged into chaos also here are a mass safe distance we might pinch also says to the pace at which a few 1000 jihadists a terrorizing an entire country designing their militias are over running around one 3rd of iraq and syria and setting up a ruthless regime of terror. and somewhere in the south declared caliphates was leonora gushing with pride over her husband. he went by the name of me hurt. me hard yes it was born martin lemon curd and was a welder you know mine in germany before joining us where he reportedly came to hold a senior position and i asked intelligence a fellow german i

leave aside in the study group but it's important to note for these purposes, isis considers iraq and syria part of one operation and so what happens in al anbar and iraq and what the iraqi government does is also important and that is something that this committee will need to pay attention to. i would point to three things we need to do better than we have or keep doing to make sure we don't stop and one escaping of the counterterrorism pressure on isis using u.s. forces. for every sort of briefer that spoke to us said that will give new life to so we need to keep that pressure on it is very much in our interest because that would help to keep isis from returning. i don't think they will be able to take that back and help them with the reintegration of radicalization process and they are the ones that need to do that. they were great fighting partners to transition to be great sort of governing partners to the links to the inclusive in the way they govern so that you don't have discontent among the local populations that they can capitalize on. >> i'm going to add a few additional things.

the united states currently has 20,000 actively operating in iraq, syria, afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world. and the department of defense is also currently supporting 30,000 contractors in those locations and elsewhere. in my judgment, given that context, you cannot accurately describe the current situation as being peacetime. final point here is that a budget in the $738 billion range would be part of what has been a roughly $160 billion infusion of nominal dollars since president obama's final budget before leaving office. in other words, the dod received $160 billion in new money relative to what president obama planned to provide before he left office. so i think it's fair to categorize that level of increase as being a fairly significant defense budget buildup. so now i want to look at this historic concept from another perspective. one way to think about this is to compare the changes that have occurred under president trump to the changes that occurred under other presidents going back to world war ii. but the trick here is that you have to find a way to put all of

who are if it has been in iraq if it has been syria. if it has been. teeny and lebanese people. we have brought them security. we managed to. drive away and to root out the savage terrorists this is the difference between us and the enemy when it comes to the region we have all with wanted the good. solidarity brotherhood. for the people of that and the nations of the region but there are again powers led by the united states have always wanted and security poverty problems. on. plundering. of the resources of the region. this sensitive junction of history. we declare we are now nce to our neighbors. with all neighbors we. the friendship. and brotherhood to them. and we are ready. to forget the previous mistakes. our neighbors in the region because. today the enemies of islam and the enemies of the region e-zine is a distaste arrogance they want to take advantage of the gaps amongst us and to abuse that. our logic is a logic of a persian gulf. whose security issue will be ensured from inside. the security of the persian gulf and this state of formals on the sea or from on should

. ♪ >>> i've covered isis from the beginning, as the militant army rolled through much of iraq and syriaconquering a vast territory and establishing its caliphate. but by the spring of 2019, the tables had turned. isis was losing. i came back to witness the end. only a few thousand of the most hard-core militants were left. they were surrounded in a little syrian town called baguz. this man is a field commander in a force made up predominantly ethnic kurds. he took me to the front lines. they don't look like they're ready to surrender. he's he's saying the once in here are prepared to die. they had a war plan, a partnership. the u.s. military dropped bombs from above while kurdish fighters backed isis into this squalid holdout, no bigger than a few football fields. >> translator: there are battles waging inside. they surrender or we kill them. >> reporter: isis lost its grip and the kurds came in. >> they're saying the ieds haven't cleared this area. >> reporter: the operation went on for weeks. we watched as american bombs rained down night after night. the last bastion of the islamic s

afghanistan, iraq, syria, somalia, and niger, officially. military bases, 870 countries. these are crazy numbers and nobody knows. and when i say nobody knows, i mean the media doesn't report it. how many bombs are we dropping? obama was dropping 20,000 a year? and trump has taken it to 44,000. david stockman and i were looking and said that they can't account for $20 million. i don't know. where is it? i don't know how long i had to work to have that money taken out of my taxes. what did you do with it? i don't know. crazy. just crazy. going on 18 years. the only time that war is mentioned is when a dad comes him to surprise his wife and kids at a football game. and by the way, i love that. it's a beautiful moment. it makes me feel good. i get teary eyed when i see the daughter that hasn't seen daddy in so long. but, why don't we tell the american people why daddy is there to begin with? why don't we tell them anything about that war except when he comes home? it's mind-boggling. we do as americans have the right to be informed. we think that's all it is, though. no. it'

men and women who have died as part of operation inherent resolve, the campaign against isis in syria and iraq. finally, i want to thank our witnesses here today for their willingness to take on the task for examining an accomplished problem with no easy solutions. optimal outcomes were left behind long ago, end of quote. it's never easy to devote time and resources to a task whose main goal is often to prevent worse things from happening. i happen to believe that this report comes at a very timely point in our nation's history. according to press reports, isis is regrouping and that there are some 15,000 isis fighting individuals on the ground and there are some 70,000 in refugee camps that are isis supporters. mr. assad has repeated chemical attacks despite the fact that we once threw a red line and that red line seems to be more of a green light. turkey is hostile to the intent towards the kurd individuals and the kurd-led syrian defense forces and presents a real threat to them and idlib is apparently a province that's been held by terrorist groups including al qaeda. iran has 2500 troops

you couldinally, if comment, medea benjamin, on latn iranian interest in iraq, syria, lebanon, now israel is having its snap elections tomorrow, not clear what will happen out of that, but leading up to it, the prime minister benjamin netanyahu singh he will annex one third of the west bank. all o othat togetether withth wt is happepening right now?? >> that's right. the israelis have been trying to goad united states into a military attack on iran's nuclear research facicilities. let's remember it is israel who has nuclear weapons and iran does not. this pressure cocoming from israrael, given how close the trumpet administration is to the israelis, and the israelis f forcesmbing of iranian in these different a areas has really escalated this conflict. i think we should think of this as a kindred 1914 before the first rolled war were any incidedent whether it is provokd by the israelis by the saudis, can drag the u.s. into war that would be absolutely catastrophic for the entire region. we must stop that from happening. amy: i wanant to thank you for being with us. medea benjamin, co-foun

i think before we were spending money in iraq, syria, afghanistan which are places we spend billionsry year. we ought to focus defending our own borders. deirdre: you mentioned the middle east. i want to play a clip for you from our air previously and then discuss it. here we go. >> inning that keeps iran from getting a nuclear weapon is in our best interests. the deal was working. it was not a deal i was especially fond of when it was signed. i thought the sundown provisions were too soon. >> was it a mistake for president to rip it up. >> i'm not willing to say that. deirdre: james mattis with that interview with neil. >> i think moderate mattis, was wrong on this one. the deal was not working. basically it was bribing iran, giving in to nuclear blackmail so they would delay building a nuclear bomb until after the obama administration. they still had all the centrifuges to enrich uranium. they have nuclear plants that produce nuclear waste, including plutonium 239 that can be used in a plutonium on after reprocessing. all the mechanisms were left in place. we have ended the appease