james bayes is live at the united nations. he has been talking with syrian officials this morning. mes what is the latest? this >> reporter: david in the last few minutes have been talking to the syrian foreign minister. he was the chief negotiator in those geneva talks in the beginning of the year. the president of iran said he thought the actions were illegal. like the earlier statement from damascus, what we heard from the ambassador was somewhat confusing. let me tell you from my notes, his comment they played by the rules. they informed us. and he said that the syrian government was one of the first to support resolution 21-70 last month, which said that all states could do everything they could to try to defeat isil. but i said you were informed by samantha power. did she ask your permission, and did you give it? and he replied. that's a different story. the security council will be meeting here at the united nations, and on this occasion, president obama is going to be the president of the security council. the u.s. has the rotating presidency this month. around the table wil

james bayes has been talking.have been talking almost for a half hour about ukraine and poroshenko announcing the ceasefire deal that is due in 7-minute's time, but there has been a lot of talk, hasn't there, about how to deal, for example, with the islamic state group which has taken over vast swathes of iraq and syria. >> absolutely. and we're in that one hour of the afternoon where everything is happening, because the meeting has ended and all of the world leaders are simultaneously briefing us. sigh simultaneously we're getting a lot of information. it's fast coming out. about exactly what was raised in the afternoon session. but the islamic state has been talked about here. in a statement from secretary of state john kerry and chuck hagel saying they want to build a brood international coalition, and that nato members were in favor of this strategy. they say it's an idea from here they want to take to lots of other partners in the region. they want to take it to the u.n. general assembly, and build an interna

now let's bring in our diplomatic editor, james bayes who is standing by at the u.n. james in the past he had used his speech really to lambaste former colonial powers. this time around was a little bit different. he did say, however, that zimbabwe has become the victim of the evil machinations of the western countries who continue to apply sanctions against zimbabwe in the hopes of regime change. since he is in his seventh term it does seem to not make sense to continue sanctions against a democratically elected leader. >> and that is certainly the point he was making. he was saying that these sanctions were terrible. he said they were illegal. he said it was a diabolical policy they were trying to pursue of regime change against him. he mentioned the e.u. and also the u.s., who have sanctions, and i think he was particularly annoyed that there was that big summit in which they invited all of the african leaders, there were only a few that they snubbed and said they couldn't come and he was one of them. every year at the united nations we watch all of the leaders come

. >> our diplomatic editor james bayes is live for us now at the united nations in new york. mes as we just heard there, president barack obama highlighting the need for a global action against isil. will that message be heard by everyone at the united nations? >> reporter: well the coalition is quite a large group of countries now. it has been growing since the nato summit meetings in the middle east. meetings in paris. security council meeting at the end of last week here. people signing up to a coalition against isil. having said that, not every country in the coalition is part of the military coalition, and of the military coalition, not all are involved -- or most are not involved in what has been happening, those air strikes in syria, which was just the u.s. and five of its arab partners. so there are different elements of the coalition, different countries that are prepared to commit different things. there is of course a big debate here about those air strikes in syria. are they justified under international law and privately a lot of diplomats will say that they belie

. >> let's go to james bayes live for us at the united nations in new york. s you have been watching that speech as well. much of the speech seemed to be about the need to fight terrorism, the global need to fight terrorism, and isil was foremost. >> reporter: absolutely. i think that was the main part of the speech, clearly when the president addresses the undergeneral assembly, addresses the world every single year, he needs to talk about the state of the world, but clear from the amount of time that he devoted to the middle east and particularly to isil that that is his key priority. the buzz word around these parts, around the united nations for sometime now, since the rise of isil and its control of parts of iraq has been the phrase countering violent extremism. that is the buzz word from the experts, and that, i think, was really what this was all about. it was trying to appeal to the youth. it was one of those visionary speeches that the president of the united states is so known for, very well crafted words of prose, but what actually did we learn new

james bayes joins us from the united nations in new york where the security council has been talking t the outbreak in liberia. what is being said at this meeting, james? >> well, the u.n.'s medical and humanitarian experts have been dealing with this epidemic for some considerable time. but the security council doesn't normally deal with public health issues. it is dealing with it because of a regular meeting about liberia where there still is a u.n. peace keeping mission. but clearly the meeting was dominated by the situation regarding liberia considering that they are the worst-effected country. the president declared a state of emergency. and that's why the security council was briefed by liberia's minister of defense. >> we are meeting at a time when liberia is facing a serious threat to national existence. the deadly virus has caused disruption of the normal functioning of our state. the disease has now reached urban centerings, including the capitol. it is now spreading like wildfire devalving everything in its path. the country has been overwhelmed. >> well, there are concerns

james bayes is in new port where the summit will be taking place. james two major conflicts.t options are on the table for discussion? >> well, there will be a great deal of discussion here, and i think it's worth remembering first, laura, that originally this was supposed to be a summit about afghanistan, but because of the dispute over the afghan election, there's no afghan president to come here to talk about a deal for troops at the end of this year, but that doesn't mean this will be a summit with no business. in fact it will be one of the busiest in recent years. they will be talking about i.s., and about the situation in ukraine. nato officials deeply worried. they say the situation has deteriorated drastically in the last couple of weeks. they believe there are thousands of russian troops who have crossed the border and are fighting on the ground. and one of the things you can see is a spear head force. about 4,000 troops who could be deployed in an offensive capacity in just two days. >> james, these situations sort of revive nato and breathe new life into its signif

let's cross back now to our diplomatic editor, james bayes there in newport in south whales. mes what else is happening now on the last day of the nato summit? >> well, quite an important thing is happening, and that is a discussion about how to pay for all of this for what they will do with regard to this new spearhead unit, with regard to the ukraine, with regard to the situation in iraq. all of this realignment of what nato is going to do requires money and there is criticism from some nato allies, notably the u.s., which pays most of the bills, that other countries need to increase their defense spending. i'm told there will be a commitment to enhance defense budget, and certainly they are going to sign up to a commitment not to cut their defense budgets any further, but i don't think we are going to see a huge spending increase, and i'm sure the russians are watching every detail very closely. they are looking at all of the tough words coming from nato, but they are also looking to see if nato is really prepared to put its money where its mouth is. >> james, thank you. >>

james bayes is also at the u.n. headquarters.s is a routine meeting i understand, but of course it is unusual in that it will be chaired by the u.s. secretary of state. and will involve many more countries than currently sitting on the security council. >> yes, it's routine in the sense that the u.n. security council regularly meets concerning the situation in iraq. the u.s., you see john kerry talking to the russian ambassador, he is going to be presiding over this meeting, because the u.s. have decided that it will have this mainly at foreign minister level. it's up to any countries who they send, and it is clear that russia is not sending its foreign minister. but many foreign ministers are represented including the french foreign minister, the german foreign minister, the jordanian foreign minister, the italian foreign minister, the canadian foreign minister, among others that i have seen there around the table, and it will be a long meeting, because i think most of these people will want to speak. the idea is i think two thi

. >>> plus: >> i'm james bayes at the united nations. world leaders are gathering.he focus on isil, and in the next hour or so a speech by president obama. >> we have gone beyond the boundaries of human enterprise. >> mission accomplished, india joins an elite group of countries becoming the late toast put a satellite around mars. ♪ >>> the united nations general assembly is getting underway in new york as we speak. these are live pictures coming in to us from that meeting. we'll be following the speeches this throughout the coming hours here on al jazeera. u.s. president barack obama expected to speak shortly, and we'll take that speech live. but we'll begin this news hour proper with news from syria that fighters from the opposition muse -- muslim front with evacuating their bases, and another group says it too is leaving its bases. let's get the latest from zana huda. what are we to make of this? >> reporter: these are powerful rebel movements. they have told their followers to leave their bases, headquarters, and to move heavy weapons. these forces are afraid th

let's go live to our correspondent james bayes. he was also listening in. james some very strong words there from rasmussen, and he was sitting right to poroshenko, really showing that nato is standing by ukraine in this conflict. >> absolutely, and this is the idea of this, is to send a strong message to russia, a strong message to moscow, a strong message to president putin. but there is a fine line. you send a message of support for the ukrainian government, but try not to further antagonize president putin, because it is clear that, according to nato, the russian forces are heavily engaged in ukraine. the latest inn tell against shows there are now about 3,000 russian troops inside ukraine's border, hundreds of tanks there. in fact they are almost -- according to this official -- means there are more russian troops fighting in ukraine, than there are separatists, actual ukrainians who would like to separate from the rest of ukraine in that'sern region. >> so what links do you think, james is nato prepared to go to support ukraine militarily? >> very toug

let's go to james bayes at the nato summit. hi, james.e know obama says he is hopeful, yet very skeptical about the situation in ukraine, but there is a feeling of things coming together. >> reporter: absolutely, julie. they have tried here to seek a balance, to try to do something that will deter further russian aggression, because some of the nato members that border russia are deeply concerned about their own security, but at the same time they don't want fourther antagonize moscow. yes, you have this new very rapid reaction force able to move at 48-hour's notice. you have fresh exercises and deployments on a regular basis that are going to take place in eastern europe close to russia. but they are saying, for example, some of the forces they are prepositioning there will be at bases that will be referred to as reception areas. reception areas means bases, but there was an act signed at the end of the cold war between russia and nato, which said that nato wouldn't set up any new permanent bases in eastern europe, and they are trying no

james bayes joining us from new york. hearing about the security council meeting, james? >> we have had u.n. experts dealing with ebola for a long time, but this is the first time the security council has discussed it because they are having a regular meeting in liberia where there is a u.n. piece-keeping mission. about 500 in guinea and sierra leone, but the death toll so far in liberia is 1,200, so the worst-effected country, in many ways because of the poor state of medical facilities in that country. last month they declared a state of national emergency in liberia. they put the army and police on the streets in curfew at night. and that's why they were briefed by the minister of defense. >> we are meeting at a time when liberia is facing the serious threat to national existence. the deadly ebola virus has caused a terrible state. it is now spreading like wildfire [ inaudible ] everything in its path. the already weak infrastructure of the country has been overwhelmed. >> it makes you wonder what more the u.n. securit

james bayes joins us live from the u.n. james what more can you tell us about this meeting?rter: well we're trying to piece together exactly what the syrians think of what happened on their soil from these tear strikes. we know that meeting that took place, but we also know what we're finding out here at the united nations that very much the diplomatic spotlight has moved here because world leaders are here. president obama arrived here about ten minutes or so ago. the syrian ambassador to the united nations known to be close to bashar al-assad, now i can tell you, i spoke to him about an hour about, what he told me was somewhat confusing, but i asked him what he thought of the strikes. did he think they were legal or illegal, and he replied they informed us. and resolution 21-70 which was passed in august which was about trying to destroy isil was something the syrian government supported. i then followed up with another question, i said they informed you, but did they ask for your permission and did you give your permission? and he said that is another story, and i'll be s

let's bring in now our diplomatic editor, james bayes who is standing by at the united nations. james you have been listening in to that speech, interesting that he said that the establishment of a unity government in this iraq will help stop the danger of isil. >> absolutely. they have a unity government, but it's a very fragile structure there. there's still many, many problems in bagdad, and i think that's one of the reasons why, because iraq stands in this very difficult position with the threat of isil, both internal and externally they have problems. and that's why i think it was a somewhat non-controversial speech. how did you read the speech? >> as you said it is anything specific to instill, aside from isil and how they look over large territory within the state and declared their own state there. his emphasis on terrorism is of course understandable, considering the challenges that iraq faces. but he almost glossed over the issues of sectarian violence, of shiite militias, of the various problems iraq is facing, by simply saying we established a government of consensus

james bayes is in newport where that summit will be taking place. >> originally this summit was supposedo be about afghanistan, with most of the nato forces due to leave this year, and new arrangements with the new afghan government, but because of problems with the afghan election there is no afghan president coming to this summit, but there is still an extremely busy agenda with all of the conflicts taking place around the world. officials are telling me that they believe that there are now thousands of russian troops fighting inside ukraine. they say the situation has got worst, drastically in the last couple of weeks, and this summit, i think will be calling for a new rapid reaction force from nato, some 4,000 spear head troops who could be deployed in just a couple of days with just very short notice. but they will also be discussing the situation in iraq and syria, the role of i.s. now, which now controls a large swathe of those two countries, as well as other confli conflicts. >>> still ahead here on the program: [ applause ] >>> china celebrates japan's second world war surrender

james bayes has more now from the united nations. >> reporter: this was a strong speech from the palestiniandent. he said he was full of grief, regret and bitterness. he compared the war in gaza that lost more than 2,000 lives with previous conflicts in the territory and said the scale of genocidal crime is larger and described israel as a racist state. he went on to come up with a new proposal. >> translator: this endeavor will end the israeli occupation and achieving a two-state solution with east jerusalem as the palestinian capitol. we could reach a resolution of the plight of the refugees. >> reporter: there was applause as he finished his speech. but it's the security council that matters for his new proposal. the time line for an end of the occupation. and in the security council the u.s. is normally very supportive of its ally, israel. >>> the students in hong kong have stormed the government headquarters during a fifth day of protests. hundreds of university, college, and high school students charged where they later held a individual isle. they have been demanding that free electio

. >>> our diplomatic editor, james bayes joins us now from newport, wales.you think russia is paying attention to this tough talk at the nato summit, and is in any way concerned? >> reporter: i think russia will obviously be paying attention and there are things that russia won't like and probably will be annoyed about, but let's unpick some of those comments we heard in jonah's report. we heard that nato is going to protect its allies. itself allies means this, it means members of the alliance. it means the 28 nato members. if there is a threat to one of those members, it's a threat to all. allies doesn't mean other partners and other friends, liles doesn't in this case include ukraine, yes, the current president of ukraine is a friend of nato, he was here, he got support from nato, but that collective defense guarantee doesn't apply to him. russia won't like the idea of constant rotation of troops through the east, i think they may say that's a violation of a treaty nato signed with russia at the end of the cold war, although they are not using the term ba

. >> james bayes, thanks much in this deed. >>> we have the director of the policy analysis at the doha of research and development. welcome again. the five arab nations involved in these strikes overnight, majority sunni states, big states, jordan, saudi arabia, the smaller gulf nations, involved in military action against a sunni extremist group. what are we to make of this? >> i think this is what the [ inaudible ] has been trying to do over the past few weeks, president obama sent him in to the region in order to have these sunni countries on board. because the united nations, and the obama administration doesn't want to look like fighting a sunni group and siding with iran and shiite dominated government. they wanted very much to have this major sunni countries fighting alongside the united states. that's very important from a political point of view that they are not fighting this war against sunnis. >> so the governments have taken the decision to join this coalition, but how do people in these countries feel? does their involvement put them at risk of reprisal action? >> that mi

james bayes has our report. >> reporter: as the u.n.'w enjoy makes his first visit to the country since he took the job, ban ki-moon has produced a report to the security council about the situation in libya. that report will be discussed next week, but al jazeera has obtained a copy, and it really makes very depressive reading, it says this first six months of the year witnessed the most serious outbreak since 2011. it is almost three years since the death of gadhafi, but those who were fighting him have turned on one another. a desperate situation, the worst this country has seen in those three years. you have two -- parliaments, and two governments. but there is also wide-spread violence, and the civilians are getting caught up in all of this. a lack of food, water, electricity. a lot of people being displaced. a hundred thousand people displaced from tripoli, 20,000 from the east. and there are other grim statistics in this report about those fleeing libya. it has long been a root for migrants coming from africa. so far this year, 77