is there an inflow of refugees from syria to lebanon today. there is a lot of reporting on this issue today that some allege there are twenty thousand thirty thousand or even forty thousand refugees but those are dramatically airfreighted figures refugees come to lebanon from neighboring areas in syria where there is fighting at the moment this can happen in any country people are trying to stay alive by seeking shelter with relatives and friends who live across the border officially there are a few hundred refugees maybe some two thousand or three thousand at most but these are temporary refugees rather than permanent once pieces are stored in syria they will return home many syrian families have relatives eleven on that they have invited them to stay but they have a nice people are also providing humanitarian aid to those in need and. deserve is from the so-called free syrian army a little water guards have reportedly arrested some of them and are planning to hand them over to the syrian authorities use by calls by several international huma

echoes of syria's conflict being felt in neighboring lebanon splitting it society on who is behind events across the border next r.t. interviews the lebanese foreign minister warns of the dangers of taking sides in the conflict. in the militias this is your first visit to moscow as a foreign minister according to to an interview with mr lavrov your deliberations had launched really focused on the syrian crisis how do you assess their results. our meeting was primarily focused on the bilateral relations between lebanon and russia we also discussed a lot of other issues of mutual interest it is apparent the middle east has been going through a very difficult time therefore we have discussed the developments in the palestinian territories the threats facing the gaza strip and israel's actions in the occupied territories and especially the situation in syria russia's standing on the syrian issue convergys with that of ours in that sense it's as clear as day we are just as concerned about the issues of series security and stability as other neighboring states and the entire international commu

marine in lebanon. we did not go to war with iran. in 1996, iran allegedly supported a terrorist group that bombed khobar towers, u.s. military residence in saudi arabia, that attacked, killed 19 u.s. servicemen. we did not go to war with iran. in these situations, we seemed to follow the advise of pope john paul ii who said, war is not always inevitable. instead of going to war, republicans and democratic administrations, president carter, reagan, bush and clinton, imposed sanctions on iran. in recent years, the united states has expanded those sanctions. in 2012, the european union joined the effort to sanction iran. the eu has pledged to halt new imports of iranian oil in july. in addition, the eu has imposed new banking restrictions on iran. these restrictions known at swift code sanctions will reach into the global banking system and short-circuit iran's money transfer mechanism. without the ability to use the international banking system, it is unlikely that iran's current 25% inflation rate will rise and reek economic havoc. ye

interim force in lebanon has called for the tsar mean. what do you think about this statement which. say that what we have repeatedly stated that the lebanese resistance forces are forced to bear arms due to the ongoing occupation of a part of nepalese territory by israel if israel continues its forces across that territory by sea act and land on a daily basis which is a constant source of danger that is why we cannot tell the freedom fighters in southern lebanon to lay down their arms while they are faced with a constant threat from israel that israel needs to stop pressuring and threatening us all the time so that we can feel that our peace security and stability are not endangered that we will still need a force capable of protecting us against such recurrent threats that we can revisit this issue once occupation is over and lebanese territories are liberated. the u.n. security council is closely following the events in the middle east and that lebanon has many friends around the globe including some of the council's permanent members

our meeting was primarily focused on the bilateral relations between lebanon and russia we also discussed a lot of other issues of mutual interest it is apparent that the middle east has been going through a very difficult time therefore we have discussed the developments in the palestinian territories the threats facing the gaza strip and israel's actions in the uk our territories and especially the situation in syria russia's standing on the syrian issue convergys with that of ours in that sense it's as clear as day we are just as concerned about the issues of syria's security and stability as other neighboring states and the entire international community. we seek to restore stability not only in syria but the entire international community the events in syria escalated into hostilities and armed resistance against government forces from the very start armed groups fighting against the government and being financed and supplied with weapons they are destroying civilian facilities we hear calls for military intervention coming from within syria as well as internationally we see one part

in lebanon, people killed across the border by syrian forces firing across the border. violations of sovereignty by crossing the border. already a spillover effect which is deplorable. we salute the families and countries hosting families outside the syrian borders and we're trying to provide assistance to those host families and governments. bashar -- ambassador ford said, bashar wants the people, the world to believe if not for him there's going to be a civil war. part of this is, you know, t the -- bash ar al assad propaganda machine to frighten people into believing they have no alternative but to stick with him. or they end up in civil war. part of what the region, trying to do, the region is trying to do, international community, try to help avoid that path leading to a civil war. all agree it is a risk. ambassador ford said for articulately it's not a question of alawites versus sunnis, it's a question of the assad mafia basically hijacked the entire state of syria for four decades in order to enrich itself and protect itself against the syrian people. that's wha

well there are international reports that some two dozen syrian troops have crossed over into lebanon and are fighting syrian rebels inside lebanon but we're hearing from the lebanese state media that these reports are inaccurate that there has been no syrian troops fighting inside lebanon at the same time they say that they was fighting along the border earlier today tuesday and that a few stray bullets came across but nothing more than that now for some time syria has been complaining that lebannon provides a traffic route to arms smuggling as well as to follow in fighters who are moving across into syria at the same time the rebels before have launched attacks from lebanon in serbia if indeed these reports prove to be inaccurate as we are hearing indeed from the eleven news media it will be yet another example of how there is a media frenzy that's created when just a few reports on the truth and security in terms of what is happening in countries like syria now the syrian opposition is also meeting today in istanbul what can you tell us about. there is a meeting underway in istanbu

the weapons going from lebanon to syria with going from lebanon to syria. or from jordan from there came from. the street in a hospital run by a sunni charity attitudes are strikingly different most of the patients here are young men from the homs province and some like mohammad don't hide their affiliation to get free syrian army his take on who is responsible for the bloodshed is not hard to guess. i have a warning for the russian people that if they don't change their stand will cut all ties with them once their revolution reaches its victory you still have time to make the right choice. the hospitals administrator shows us some of about five hundred patients they've treated since the uprising began. allegedly committed by assad's regime amount to crimes against humanity but when i ask him whether it be revolution is worth all the suffering and destruction his response is not exactly humanitarian you know we have many destruction and we have more than i can no more than eleven thousand as we hear. i think all the revolution has to pay some some. somethin

ç palestinians are expected to march toward the border of israel and lebanon. >> is itç too early tohe moment.ç the protests in lebanon just behind me, four or five kilometers away, were dueç to t underway late morning. so we'll have to wait and see whether people tried to approach the border. now it is pretty quiet here. if you look down, you can see that big base over thereç is o of the u.n. camps they kind of monitor the border here. a little in front of that there is an israeli army checkpoint. we have seen hundreds of israeli soldiers who have been brought in to reinforce the border. that's because you might remember, last year we had two protests in the spring and may and june whether where hunlrdds of palestinians and their supporters approached the border from both lebanon and syria. some managed to crossç. dozens of people ended up being killed. >> how significant of a day is this?ç >> well, there are land day demonstrations every year. that has happened since 1976.ç arab israelis or palestinians living in israel. i think thereç is a hope among some palestinians that

today tuesday and that there were some stray bullets but there are no syrian troops currently inside lebanon claims about an independent journalist who's written extensively on the middle east believes president acceptance of a plan doesn't fit the image of drawn up by the opposition of his regime. this doesn't really play into the new era of the spin being attempted to be created it will suit portray assad as some sort of insane agent who can't be reasoned with but of course if he is agreeing to this and this process that doesn't go along with the near of i think that's exactly what you're seeing right now these types of unconfirmed reports coming out of skirmishes along the border and supposedly syrian troops crossing into lebanon at the exact same time as this deal has been announced so that every report that's been picked up around the world right now is mentioning that the bit as it is agreed to is an unplanned but also that syrian troops are crossing into lebanon lebanese border which again is just an attempt to make it seem like assad is completely unreasonable and will be able to to

it's his theory that says look at lebanon, look at iraq, that's where we're headed if you don't back me. there's a real responsible on the part of the syrian national council, the broader opposition groups to show by word and by deed that that's, in fact, not where they have to go. >> what are the dynamics, if you would, between the syrian national council and free syrian army and the internal local groups, mr. ambassador? >> mr. chairman, a couple of things i'd say on that. the two organizations are separate. there is not a hierarchy between them. the syrian national council has its own executive body and a broader general assembly. the free syrian army, as best we understand, has its own leadership hierarchy. they are not organically linked. however, they certainly do talk to each other, and on the ground in syria local revolution councils are being set up now. if you watch, for example, al jazeera television, you'll often see the spokesman for the revolution council in homs talking about the atrocities going on there. it's a young man, a very brave man named abu salah who will lit

>> mostly lebanon and people are looking for work in of lebanon engaged there was a blight in the mulberry trees died and so they couldn't raise anything but the other thing that happened is the japanese silk began to compete so the industry fell apart. estimate quote was the reaction when the arabs and muslims started coming to the u.s.? trade industry that they began to sort of poll little trinkets to farmers. we have documents that showed they went into connecticut and springfield and there was this woman who ran away from lebanon to avoid being married to an 80 year old man, so she opened a store and they knew no arabic they would have her name and address and they could slip them on the train from new york and the wood and in springfield and they would go out. sears roebuck began to deliver to the rural area and came to an end so they started opening stores and began to settle. >> with a strong muslims at that time or more of a secular? >> for most of the world. the first arabs were christian and than ten years later the muslims began to come because some of the arab christians would

here in nearby lebanon, supporters of the syrian revolution took to the street in a rally in downtown beirut, but they're also supporters of the syrian government, and there was a very strong military presence. the lebanese government has been successful in keeping the criteria outside of lebanon, but as that drags on, there are growing concerns about how long lebanon can keep that. >> coming up, a beloved fixture at wbal, and some very good news to share. we have the details straight ahead. plus, cardinal of brian back in town giving thanks. there was a special mass today as the people in baltimore welcome to the cardinal come. >> there is a clipper out in the ohio river valley that is making snow out there and could be a close call here. right now, partly cloudy skies, 36 at the airport, 39 downtown. [ female announcer ] with xfinity, you can always expect more. like more on demand shows and movies than ever. and more ways to discover them too. plus more speed from america's fastest internet provider. so you can run more devices at the same time. ♪ feel a firework [ female announcer

her case is not unique, unfortunately, lebanon.n a study a year and a half ago, we saw an average of one death per week of my great domestic workers in the country. they often commit suicide. it is a broader systemic issues. >> human rights watch is calling for a transparent investigation to help highlight abuses suffered by migrant workers in lebanon. and makes life unlivable. >> here in germany, political parties are gearing up for an unexpected battle. snap elections in the bellwether state of north rhine- westphalia. >> the minority government there llapd after failing to pass a budget vote. the resulting election does not bode well for the coalition here in the capital berlin, especially for the junior partners the free democrats. >> if germany were to vote today, it is unlikely that the current coalition would return to the cabinet table. recent opinion polls show that the three government parties with no longer have a majority. the fdp would not even reach the 5% of votes needed to enter parliament. polls show the cdu and cs

we think maybe 15,000 from syria into jordan, maybe 10,000 into lebanon, 10,000 into turkey. it's not as though they set up camp someplace. the way you first learn about it is when they put demands on the host nation medical system and some other things. to a t. answer to the question is, yes, of course there's more we can do and should. we've got to do it through the host nations because they really understand this in a way that we can't. >> how engaged are the arab league and the european community in supporting these kinds of humanitarian efforts? >> they're very engaged. and we are working with the international community and the arab league in addressing the humanitarian issue. >> thank you. >> to go on to syria's weapons arsenal, i know that there have been reports that they have the biggest chemical weapon arsenal in the world. i had a chance to ask general mattis about this yesterday, about what concerns we have, should assad fall, about the security of those arsenals and what potential threat to the rest of the region they might present. can you all address that? >>

. > he is now in beirut in neighboring lebanon. how many families were in the same situation as those on the road out of ohm? >> we saw an exodus of some 4,000 and where we saw groups of displaced people with men they went around the check points. but we saw many groups of women and children without their men folk and we asked the women what do you think happened to them. they all said they have been killed or they are being killed. and fear.heir belief they didn't have any proof of that. but they are hearing from other people accounts such as that given to me by a family. the father said that he saw machine being taken away in his neighborhood and crouched down behind trees and only 50 to 100 meters they were tan out into the streets and killed including his 12-year-old son and two of his brothers and a nephew. corroboration for that but we spent several hours talking to the family. they had a very convincing account and these kinds of accounts are believed by the other displaced people who fear the worst. so the question is how m

you have families in lebanon, jordan, turkey, iraq that have taken in syrian friends and relatives. there's already an impact. in lebanon there have been people killed across the border by syrian forces crossing the lebanese border. so there's already a spillover effect, senator, which is, you know, deplorable. and we salute those families and those countries that are hosting syria syrians outside their borders. we're trying to provide assistance to those host families and governments. assad want his people to believe that it's if it's not for him, there's going to be a civil war. so part of this is a bashar al assad regime believe they have to stick with him. the international community is trying to help avoid that path to avoid the civil war. because all of us to do recognize it is a risk. as ambassador ford said more articulately than i could say, it a question the mafia that has hijacked the entire state of serious yeah for four decades in order to enrich itself and protect itself against the syrian people. that's what's happening right now. >> thank you. >> senator rich? >> tha

freedom like a muscle needs time and sustain that for it to grow that's not going to artsy beirut lebanon. let's go to the business person our work is standing by with all the latest updates wherever stan investigators are closely watching oil right now exactly this kinds of concerns actually. a lot of them coming from the u.s. the obama administration is trying to cut off iran from its main source of income boil exports of course as a sanction over its nuclear program the u.s. is sending a message to major buyers of a particular china india south korea to reduce their imports otherwise it threatens to cut their banks off from the u.s. financial system meanwhile china the biggest buyer of a grain in oil imports forty five percent in february from a month earlier as the nation's disagree over payment. if we take a look at the prices and now we can see that they are bouncing from the biggest decline into three months after of course the crude stockpiles are in the u.s. although saudi arabia has said that they're ready to boost supplies in order to stem any price rise that could hurt the glo

as we saw in iraq, or lebanon before it, time favors the hard liners in a conflict like this. the suffering of sunni's the more compelling to find a way to end the bloodshed as soon as for this reason alone, it's all the more compelling to find a way to end the bloodshed as soon as possible. furthermore, the risks of sectarian conflict will exist in syria whether we get more involved or not. and we will at least have some ability to try to mitigate these risks if we work to assist the armed opposition now. that will at least help us to know them better and to establish some trust and exercise influence with them. because we took their side when they needed it most. captioning performed by vitac diminish the longer we wait to offer them meaningful support. what we can say for certain is that we will have no influence whatsoever with these people what we can say for certain is that we will have no influence whatsoever with the people if they feel we have abandoned them. real, moral dilemma. but we cannot allow the opposition in syria to besent w worry about the future. we also h

only one road across the road right now and at the same time across the border and i'm already in lebanon. and further south she remains extremely vulnerable the city of daraa the cradle of the syrian uprising it all started here and it continues to play a role in the country's crisis with the border with jordan just several kilometers away from here and numerous reports suggesting that foreign governments and troops can easily flow through it has become one of the witnesses points in the country's security the city has become for scene of fierce and bloody clashes at least twice in the conflicts twelve months of history the authorities have claimed with many of the so-called free syrian army have in fact come from across the border. that they appear shoot and kill and then they disappear immediately they arrive from abroad and they are not from jordan they use this country's border many of them are from africa. we're showing the weapons allegedly seized in military operations. in the army we don't have weapons from israel and america sniper guns and night vision binoculars advanced devel

remember their horrific actions in lebanon in the lebanese war. but if you could focus on the homegrown terrorism and your depth of understanding of hezbollah's impact in influencing individuals that are here in the united states that would be the late -- the least perceived operative, is that the way they are working, that they would be working with the least perceived operative, someone who may not show themselves clear to be intending to do wrong? well, does someone feel -- >> yeah, i'm not really -- congresswoman, i'm not really the right person. >> dr. levitt, he's pointing to you. >> i'm sorry. i didn't know if you were asking me or him. i think hezbollah will work through its own operatives and through its own network some criminal. but the fbi has made public the fact that hezbollah has proactively also started looking for people who don't fit the main profile and, therefore, it's incumbent upon us to be aware of that as well. again, since hezbollah has the ability to -- people who may not be followers. this is a line of investigation that

, to keeping a watchful eye on the fragile but very different situations from bahrain, yemen, and lebanon. in afghanistan, we are at an impasse with president karzai on the negotiation of a strategic partnership agreement. which is critical to sustaining our goals and locking in lasting success. in pakistan, our relationship remains fraught by a series of setbacks and a lack of trust, largely arising from the fact that the country's intelligence service continues to support terrorist groups, such as the that hakani network that are ki americans. in iraq, prime minister maliki continues to centralize power at the expense of the other political blocks, while the threat posed by al qaeda appears to be growing, along with the kinds of horrific, spectacular attacks like the one we saw yesterday. the iranian regime continues working to subvert iraq and many other countries in the region. its recent attempt to assassinate the saudi ambassador in washington, as well as israeli officials in southeast asia and the caucuses, suggest a growing and increasingly reckless threat. a threat that would spa

we talked to lebanon's foreign minister. he says the policy of blocking one side of the conflict could lead to disaster for the entire region. we are against a policy of double standards when great powers back one of the parties in a dispute this policy is a source of great suffering in the middle east of the occupied territories and there are un resolutions addressing we do not insist that the international community should throw its weight behind us in this dispute but we demand that the international agreements and resolutions should be respected and observed. florida starting with yemen let's go to some other international headlines for you brief security forces have killed at least twenty nine al qaeda militants in the southern province of the yarn the navy targeted their positions with rocket and artillery shells over a twenty four hour period militants captured in the area last year against a backdrop of political turmoil in the country yemen has seen an escalation of violence since president hadi took office last mon

see tripoli lebanon on. and coming up on the program with the main international focus still on syria unrest elsewhere in the arab world is going largely unnoticed this fall and seen demonstrations across bahrain problems but it's being cast by security forces into more civilian casualties in terms just ahead of. us war warning protests isn't israel have taken the streets of one of the. government against the tension. french police this week shot dead the gunman into losing killed seven people including four to jewish schools and three soldiers amid mero was killed after a thirty two hour siege of his apartment he refused to surrender and tried to escape through the window with french intelligence has been criticised for not acting earlier as a man had been under surveillance for some time. as a frenchman no jury in descent and said he had ties with al qaida underwent training in afghanistan his brother said he was proud of his actions as being charged as a terror accomplice a political analyst and it's call

embassy in lebanon of overseeing operations against syria. so as i look at the hezbollah threat to the homeland i break it down into four threat scenarios. hezbollah does have networks to leverage to carry out an attack. has the ability to use people sent abroad it's traditional modus operandi and call upon -- with criminal elements and use them to facilitate an attack and finally we could see a homegrown violence extremist attack with iran or hezbollah simply calmed upon sympathizers to carry out active resistance as they call it in the event of confrontation with iran or hezbollah. according to a 1994 report, should the decision be to strike, hezbollah has presence to carry out such an attack. consider smuggled across the boarder from mexico in the trunk of a car. a guy who had training from lebanon from hezbollah, specialized training in weaponry, spy craft, counterintelligence, here raising money but could have done violent things if told to do. the north carolina is another example. as that case was tried, i had the privilege of serving

oil lebanese drivers according to the yard ismail chief of the customs series on the border with lebanon . these people bring women here to destroy our nation to try to kill syrian people on the syrian territory enemies. syria has more than two thousand kilometers of frontier with five states israel iraq jordan turkey and lebanon the syrian cities where the most violent clashes have taken place homes and there are all over the an hour of the border is a fact that some believe has determined their fate or destiny is this is one of three take points on the three hundred fifty kilometer syrian lebanese border in the last year as we've been told here there were only three times to smuggle weapons across the offices confiscated thousands of bullets dozens of guns and hundreds of club rooms i have little metal pieces like this one used to maybelle horses main concern iraq little clothes like this one part of the border where there isn't any security at all but here look at this in the middle of nowhere there is nothing only one road across the road right now at the same time across the border

has more than two thousand kilometers of frontier with five states israel iraq jordan turkey and lebanon the syrian cities where the most violent clashes have taken place homes and there are all over the in an hour of the border is a fact that some believe has determined their fate or destiny is this is one of three tech points on the three hundred fifty kilometer syrian lebanese border in the last year as we've been told here there were only three attempts to smuggle weapons across the u.s. was confiscated thousands of bullets dozens of clowns and hundreds of cauldrons i have little metal pieces like this one used to make their sauces main concern and their political pros like this one good part of the border where there isn't any security at all like here look at this and the middle of nowhere there is nothing only one road across the road right now at the same time across the border and i'm already in lebanon. and further south see remains extremely vulnerable the city of tire on the cradle of the syrian up. risin it all started here and it continues to play a role in the country's cr