. 0f london, than from a place like kobane.our forces fought and we know they put a very tough battle against islamic state fighters. but islamic state forces do not have an air force, they do not have tanks, they do not have all the military equipment the turkish army and its air force have. you cannot expect your forces on the ground to be able to put up meaningful resistance against turkey. but we are not going to give it up easily. we are going to defend on the ground. and i totally agree with you that the airspace is most dangerous for northern and eastern forces now, the military forces. i'm not a military man, but this is the fa ct, not a military man, but this is the fact, as you mentioned it. the airspace, and now, therefore, the north—eastern syrian people now are seeking to have airspace blocked for turkey. we have been calling for a no—fly zone, and now, when america decided yesterday they will withdraw all their forces, decided yesterday they will withdraw all theirforces, and decided yesterday they will withdraw a

much of your family is from near to the town of kobane, which is close to the turkish border, was oncecalled islamic state fighters, but then of course was taken by the syrian democratic force militia. how are your family today? have they fled, or are they still in their home? no, they stay home. and most of the people, they're staying home, but they're very, very concerned, and they‘ re following the development. there is some infiltration of the turkish military and their proxies, which are mercenaries who have been allied with turkey. but there are still people there, and the defence — people defending themself, for security. what do you say to them when you talk to them on the telephone, and i guess they discuss with you whether it is wise, safe, to stay at home, or whether they should flee? what do you believe they should do? they're trying to defend themselves. they said, we have seen the worst of isis, and turkey is attacking the civilians, and we have to be very, very careful. but we all have nowhere, no option safer than this, our home. we're going to stay and we're going to d

kobane is important and symbolic, the place were isissi lay e to the kurds in thehe beginning ofight against the islamic state. that is where the united states came to the rescue of the kurds and forged this relationshipun between thed states and the kurdish fighting forces in syria. fo fthe turks to move in andor there to be a battle and humanitari disaster would really leave american policy in the region in tatters. laura: when president erdogan sees russian soldiers doings selfies in a previous american se what does he mado of that? steven: it is clear that the themselves as a force for stability, of all things, in the region. the russians want to put themselves between turkish cerces and syrian regime f to ensure there is no fight there. the russians will play every ehe oftick to their advantage. now erdogan has no washington to go back to for leverage with the russians. the russians can play fiddle.a laura: steven cook, thank you for being with us. steven: my pleasure. laura: the white house asked for an urgent meeting with the family of harry dunn this wafternoon, the 19-year-o

but behind me is the village of kobane, the syrian village of kobane.ou will remember that village because it's famously where the americans and kurds fought together against isis. but things are moving so fast here now, in the last few days the turks have been shelling this town of kobane. but now, as you can hear, it is silent and that is because of this news that the kurds have done a deal with president assad. we do expect president assad's syrian forces to arrive in kobane there. above kobane on the hill was the location, the base where americans were stationed before they left. and, of course, the question now is whether those assad's syrian forces will end up engaging with the turkish forces right here and other places along the border or whether a deal has been done. and of course how will that deal be done? well, it will be done with russia as the adjudicator and already president erdogan saying that he is happy with the plan that russia has set out for kobane behind me here. the reality is that if americans in 2016 voted for america to withdra

the pentagon has confirmed turkish forces have fired on us forces in kobane, in northern syria.o troops were injured and turkey says it was responding to an attack in the area and didn't intend to target the us. it can only increase tensions, after the turkish offensive against kurdish forces, allied with the us, began on wednesday. there has been heavy fighting and both civilians and dozens of kurdish fighters have lost their lives. turkey wants to create a buffer zone across the syrian border. 0rla guerin has this report from the turkish town of akcakale. gunfire. here is turkey's response to international calls for an end to its offensive. its forces continuing to pound north—eastern syria, creating a new landscape of the displaced — 100,000 people and counting, in just three days. but turkey is paying a price. full state honours today for two civilians killed next to the border, seen here as martyrs in operation peace springs. 0ne coffin is child—size — for a baby boy called mohammed, just nine months old. a victim of rocket fire by syrian kurdish forces, their first retalia

about 350,000 syrian kurds will go back to ein a la rab, kobane, or their homes. this is not...ou what's going on the ground, and it's really causing a lot of alarm because there are huge accusations of human rights abuses. i'll give you one example, former british foreign secretary david miliband, head of the international rescue committee operates on the ground in northern syria, he said "worst crimes are coming to pass. there are war crimes against the billions, a grave danger to children. as a result this is not a safe zone you are creating but a killing zone". this is unacceptable. i have to disagree and what he has said is unacceptable for us, and there are some claims and sometimes... but you see the dirty propaganda as well. rupert colville, a spokesperson for the united nations human rights organisation, has said that there are... he says, "we urge the turkish authorities immediately to launch iron and partial, transparent and independent investigation and to apprehend those responsible, some of whom should be easily identifiable from the video footage they themselves s

as the turk-backed forces moved closer to the lafarge cement factory facility south of kobane, the kurdish-backed forces set fire to their part of the base and fled." with us we are so pleased to welcome to the broadcast admiral an annapolis graduate. 30 years in the united states navy retiring with the rank of four-star admiral. he happens to be the former head of the u.s. southern command. he happens to be the former supreme allied commander of nato. he also happens to be the author of a new book you will start seeing wherever books are sold. it is called "sailing true north: 10 admirals and the voyage of character." it is a great pleasure to have you here. thank you for being here. >> thank you, sir. >> what has the u.s., what has our president gone and done in the middle east? >> well, it's hard to imagine how one could in a single stroke re-enable isis, allow this forest fire which had almost put out to reflash, elevate iran, a significant part of this, allow vladimir putin, the puppetmaster, to continue his upward trajectory, and simultaneously put war criminal chemical weapon user bashar a

in the meantime, russians just entered into the kurdish towns, especially kobane, and russian forces be some sort ofjoint initiative with turkish forces. what can you tell us about the future for the kurds? that is the question every coat is asking, including myself, because these kind of massacres in these places, they are ethnic cleansing, and it's been the history of kurds in the modern history, since the kurds were deprived of their own state after the first world war, and that was the story of my grandfather, my father, and myself as well, and it is the same thing for the kurdish people, the new kurdish generation in the middle east. i think what president trump did by pulling out the us forces from syria was quite, you know, consequential for the kurdish people, because the kurds had depended on the united states for the last 30 years in russian kurdistan and also for the last five yea rs kurdistan and also for the last five years in syria. there was cooperation between the american and kurdish people, i think president trump has harmed that relationship, as we saw when the us

now the syrian regime is pushing orward swallowing up the key cities of kobane and others. we were there when the news broke about the u.s. pullout. -out.t only had to avoid syrian regime forces, turkish artillery and air strikes, their militias, ,ut isis cells. the militants had already detonated car bombs. vacuum.ere he were based to the direction we were headed. tworeds of isis family members and supporters had escaped from citi a detention camp. kurdish forces were struggling ilycontain 11,000 isis detainees add dozens of high-value prisoners were never handed over ofu.s. forces despite president trump's assurances. shis relatively peaceful part of syria has now descended into ssurances.violence. now, we just crossed over into iraq from syria because there ofre rumors that the syrian nded to chaabout to take over nd close that checkpoint. just gives you an idea of how quickly the situation on the ground has changed and how hostile that environment was that prompted the withdraw of u.s. forces. wascharlie d'agata reporting here. u.s. you. >>> president trump's decision t

is he going to move on the kurdish stiff kobane?to the safe zone? we have a lot to say about whether this turns into a humanitarian catastrophe beyond what it is today. i guess what i've warned my colleagues about, lindsey graham would love to pass a sanctions pill that likely won't be implemented by this president that would allow republicans to check a box. it will be likely there will be time for sanctions. but right now it's more important for republicans to be putting pressure on the president to change his mind and manage this crisis appropriately. i've just been warning my colleagues here not to think that congress can fix this. republicans need to be using the leverage that they have over the president right now because of this pending impeachment inquiry to get him to act more responsibly and to get him to do real diplomacy with turkey. >> it may be be a rhetorical question at this point, but do you have any reason to believe that president trump would listen to any of those republicans? he heard lindsey graham's criticism