martin patience there. a former key adviser to the un special envoy for syria between 2015 and ‘is. he chaired the humanitarian task force responsible for the safety and protection of syrian civilians. he explained the number of people this offensive is already affecting. this is a region with more than two million civilians all together under the control of the syrian defence forces, so—called. of those, 1.3 million already need humanitarian assistance, so for every war day now, this is the fourth war day tens of thousands of new people are displaced, on top of the astronomic needs in this area, all an argument for a ceasefire, mediation from the west, this insanity has to stop. turkey has very generously received more than three million syrians already. it's the most generous nation on earth, in terms of receiving refugees, european, we europeans can learn from turkey in that respect, but now they are displacing, turkey is the one displacing so people cannot go to where they sought refuge before on the tu

from beirut, martin patience reports. martin: in the capital, beirut, and across lebanon, the people are staging and export mary revolt against-- an yextraordinar revolt against politicians. for now at least, a sense of nationalnity has overcome the country's bitterecurity divisions. for the first time in this country, there is a real unity unlike we have seen before. their economic situation and the corruption in government has come so bad that everyone can agree on one thi, these people are criminals and they need to leave. martin: you want the government to step down? >> of course we want the government to step down. we want not just like in a chaotic way. the government -- actually, the country has been in a chaotic way. martin: the country's prime evester is deceased from corner. >> you are calling for your dignity, your patriotic and individual dignity. c barvices, job opportunities, and above all, respect for your demands. and make no mistake, you are heard. martin: the prime minister's prised to slashic politns' pa

martin patience, thank you very much indeed.back to manchester now, as we were saying, five people stabbed at the arndale shopping centre there in manchester, which was evacuated. one man, we gather, has been arrested. we can get the latest from our correspondent peter marshall, who is at the scene. what more can you tell us? well, as you can see, still intense police and ambulance activity outside the arndale centre, which remains closed off. police we re which remains closed off. police were called shortly after 11.152 attentive reports of one, possibly two men randomly attacking people within a starbucks cafe within the main concourse of the arndale centre. ambulance service confirmed that five people have been injured, it is not clear exactly how serious those injuries are at this stage. we know that the police have arrested a man in his 40s, he is being held and questioned on suspicion of serious assault. we know also that greater manchester police have said that counter—terrorism police are leading this investigation, alth

that was martin patience on the turkey — syria border. joining us live now from oslo is jan egeland,gee council. he was the special adviser to the un special envoy for syria between 2015 and 2018. during this time he chaired the humanitarian task force responsible for the safety and protection of syrian civilians. good morning. how bad does this look from how bad does this look from a humanitarian point of view? very bad. tens of thousands of syrians fleeing every day. if it lost another ten or 20 days it would be a com plete another ten or 20 days it would be a complete catastrophe. these are war weary civilians who have suffered for too long already. when two of these armies now clash and are engulfed in crossfire, where can they go? they cannot go anywhere. that was the point i was going to get to. if they flee south where realistically is there that they can go which is safe? these people flee from displacement camps and from their homes to already cramped displacement camps to the south. there are some 2.2 million people in the area controlled by the so—called syrian defence for

martin patience, bbc news, on the turkish—syrian border. us from akca kale earlier. bus—loads of fighters heading towards the border. as you were saying, they have the manpower, they have the weapons. they are, after all, a nato power. most people think it is only a matter of time until these key target towns fall under turkish control. they've already taken a string of villages from kurdish fighters. and we're also hearing news that pro—turkish forces have reached a key highway 20 miles from the turkish border. so today was a day of significant military developments. and despite all the international criticism, president erdogan says this offensive will continue. well, a little earlier i spoke to wa'el alzayet, who was a senior policy adviser to the us ambassador to the un, samantha power. he told me that washington was now weighing up what measures it could take to rein in the erdogan regime. sanctions could potentially hurt turkey, the turkish economy still has not quite recovered from the crisis that it went through a few years ago. it

martin patience, bbc news, on the turkish—syrian border.an effort on the turkish—syria border. ruth hetherington is a spokesperson for the international committee of the red cross and joins me from geneva. we've heard that more than 100,000 people have been displaced but tell us more people have been displaced but tell us more about the situation on the ground at the moment. exactly, we have at least tens of thousands of people who have fled their homes and villages, which means as we speak they are either on the move or in emergency shelters or looking for emergency shelters or looking for emergency shelter. we don't have exact numbers because the situation is changing rapidly but what we do know is that up to 300,000 people could end up displaced. this includes populations of major cities in the area. on top of that, has a itself may run dry. as a major water plant serving the city was affected. and we are seeing impact on health services. the added problem of treating the wounded, some facilities are closing due to security fears for sta

martin patience, bbc news, on the turkish—syrian border.s from akca kale earlier. bus—loads of fighters heading towards the border as you were saying, they have the manpower and weapons and are after all a nato power and most people think that it is only a matter of time until these key targets fall under turkish control. they have already taken a string of villages from kurdish fighters and we are hearing news that pro—turkish forces have reached a key highway 20 miles from the turkish border. today was a day of significant military development. and despite all the international criticism, president erdogan says this offensive will continue. we can speak now to wa'el alzayet who was a senior policy adviser to the us ambassador to the un, samantha power and served as a policy expert at the us state department from 2007—2017. he joins us live now from washington. thank you for speaking to us here on bbc news. first off really keen to get your feeling on what the current state of affairs is. what is president erdogan‘s strategy here? thank yo

many thanks, martin patience, our correspondent.n is meeting his irish counterpart leo va radkar for brexit talks this lunchtime, just days after european leaders expressed pessimism about reaching a deal by the end of the month. the two leaders are having what's been described as a private meeting to "allow detailed discussions". the labour leaderjeremy corbyn said this morning that labour was ready for a general election once it was clear that a no—deal brexit was off the table. our political correspondent jessica parker reports. can he break out of this deadlock? borisjohnson leaving downing street earlier to see this man — leo varadkar, also on the move. the two leaders arriving for their meeting near liverpool. but can an agreement be reached? ministers insist they've not run out of road just yet. the reason the prime minister's meeting leo varadkar isn't simplyjust to have a social conversation. they're seriously focused on trying to resolve this issue and trying to get a deal. the issue being this, how to keep the irish borde

martin patience reporting, and i spoke to martin from akcakale a short while ago.e seen in another town about 18 miles from where i'm standing, ras al—ain, there has been fierce clashes there throughout the day, but turkish forces are inside that city. there was a claim by the turkish government that they had in fact taken that town. i saw a video from fighters inside that town and they almost immediately, as we saw in the report, came underfire, so that is disputed by the kurds. but we also know, according to local reports, the pro—turkish forces have pushed about 20 miles deep into syria. now, that is the limit of this proposed safe zone that turkey says it's going to set up. but, significantly, there is a key highway there and turkish forces are now at that highway and, presumably, in the coming days, they will be looking to secure that. so i think today, there has been significant military developments. martin, what about diplomatic developments? there's been a meeting of the arab league in cairo, they condemned this as an act of aggression. what's your sense f

from akcakale on the turkish side of the border, our middle east correspondent martin patience sent thise, turkey's not backing down. at the border, the build up continues. as turkey claims it's taking control of a key syrian town. this pro turkish fighter says they've just entered ras al—ayn. almost immediately, there's incoming fire from kurdish fighters. tens of thousands of civilians from the town have already fled. some are now sheltering in this school. how do you explain it to a child? "there was shelling", says this man. "i had to flee my house in the middle of the night. we didn't know where to go. we walked about six miles. and i'm sick and i don't have any medicine." but turkey's president says his fight is not against the kurdish people. translation: the west and the us all together say to us "you are killing the kurds." the kurds are our brothers and sisters, our fight is not against the kurds, it is against terrorist organisations. driven from their homes by the fighting, that's not how these people feel. there are also reports that pro turkish forces have martin patience r

our correspondent martin patience joins us now from the turkish—syrian border.ill the involvement of syrian troops now have on this situation? first of all, we just need to think about this, a week ago, the kurds were allied with america, now that america has pulled out, the kurds have gone over to the syrian regime. now, according to kurdish officials, the syrian army will push up to the turkish border. but what we have to remember, there isa but what we have to remember, there is a propaganda war being fought, and the syrian military is utterly exhausted. but it is worth pointing out, the syrian government is backed by russia and iran, so therefore, if turkey is to attack kurdish forces, they would also be attacking russia and iran, and i think that gives you some idea of how dangerous this conflict can be. we are at a very dangerous moment. as for the situation in north—eastern syria at the moment, we are hearing it is absolutely chaotic. the turkish advanceis absolutely chaotic. the turkish advance is continuing right along this border, with around 150,000 c

martin patience, bbc news, on the turkish—syrian border. orla guerin sent this update from the turkish side of the border. within the last few minutes here, there have been three very loud blasts close to us. we could hear them, we could feel them and instantly there were scenes of panic in the streets of people running for their lives. others rushing towards the scene, trying to find out if there were casualties. we know that there was at least one person injured. we saw them being taken away from this building across the road. that is the office of the local governor. and we could see on the ground the evidence of an artillery strike. so this was incoming fire from the other side of the border. there was a second strike further down the street. we could see the smoke rising. the authorities have pushed us back now. they are afraid of more incoming fire. but for the first time, this offensive that turkey is carrying out across the border in syria, that has now started to feel very real on the side of the border. president erdogan has said

the death toll has been rising and earlier we spoke to martin patience and asked him what the latest about this, a week ago the kurds were allied with america. now that america's pulled out, the kurds have gone over to the syrian regime. now, according to syrian officials, the syrian army will push up to the turkish border. but what we have to remember is a propaganda war is being fought here and the syrian military is utterly exhausted, but it is worth pointing out the syrian government is backed by russia and iran. so therefore if turkey is to attack kurdish forces, it would be in turn attacking russia and iran and i think thatjust gives you some idea of how dangerous this conflict can be. we are at a very dangerous moment. as for the situation in north east syria at the moment, we hear it is chaotic, the turkish advance is continuing right along this border, with around 150,000 civilians now having fled the violence. so it is a chaotic situation and many syrians are simply running for their lives at the moment. families of people killed by sepsis are warning that too many patients

martin patience, bbc news, beirut. parliamentary group on north east syria. thank you forjoining us. what is your assessment of american policy at the moment with regards to northern syria? at the moment it is com pletely northern syria? at the moment it is completely confused. america had only about two or three weeks ago just implemented the latest brokered agreement where you would have local forces, turkish forces, american forces, turkish forces, american forces and even some syrian damascus forces and even some syrian damascus forces patrolling the border or any demilitarised zone, heavy artillery on both sides was drawn back, and the feeling was peace was starting to be maintained, democracy was starting to be built, gender equality, schools and all other things that are important in rebuilding a country. overnight, almost, with a set of tweets, donald trump is starting to move troops out, it looks like he did not seek any advice from even the pentagon itself. let's remind ourselves the kurds were the people in

our correspondent martin patience is on the turkish side of the border. e kurds had been warning that they wouldn't be able to guard all of the islamic state prison in syria. that's absolutely right. there had been warnings, so in many ways, this shouldn't come as a surprise. what we have seen this morning happened ina camp we have seen this morning happened in a camp in north—eastern syria. it was home to more than 10,000 people. some of them had links to islamic state, but many didn't. according to kurdish officials, they are saying the camp was attacked by turkish warplanes, and that perhaps islamic state fighters were also involved. again, we simply can't confirm the details yet, although it appears that some kind of break did take place. martin, thank you very much. boris johnson is briefing the cabinet this afternoon about the intensive brexit negotiations that have resumed in brussels between british and european union officials. ambassadors from the 27 other eu countries will be given details by the chief brexit negotiator, michel barnier, this eve

here's our middle east correpsondent, martin patience, on the impact this new allignment could have fore to reassess its options. because if it pushes too deep, potentially it is attacking syrian forces supported by russia and iran. and that obviously will have to be factored in to any of its plans. because the danger always is in syria that, as horrible as the war has been in this country for eight years, it potentially could trigger something far worse. so this is a dangerous moment from syria. the american withdrawal has created a vacuum, powers are rushing to fill it, but it is also a dangerous moment for the middle east, as well. donald trump started all of this. and he's been tweeting his reasoning in the last hour... and earlier, he had a warning for turkey. he said... though of course the choice isn't — go to war with a nato ally or abandon the kurds. america was already supporting the kurds and wasn't at war with turkey. also, presumably having been briefed on the displacement of thousands of people in northern syria, the roadside execution of kurds by turkey—backed militia and

but turkey has denied deliberately targeting american soldiers. 0ur middle east correspondent martin patiencem a short while ago from sanliurfa on the turkey—syria border. the latest we are getting is from the turkish defence ministry, and they say they have retaken a town from kurdish control. that town is one of the key targets of this offensive. we've seen fierce fighting inside that town between kurdish fighters, the turkish military, as well as turkish backed syrian forces. that gives you an indication of how complex the battle field is. from turkey's point of view, this offensive is continuing and it is achieving its objectives. we are also hearing reports that turkey has pushed up to a main highway which is about 20 miles from where i am standing and that highway is key because that would mark the border of what turkey is calling this safe zone. from turkey's point of view, this operation is going as planned. from the kurdish point of view, a real sense of betrayal. they are on the run and according to aid agencies, 100,000 kurds have fled from the border areas and they are pushing int

martin patience is nearby.what we've seen in the past hour or so, turkish shelling into syria behind me, the town is one of the main focuses of this turkish military operation. you are right in saying that there has been a response and we have had shells come into the town just behind me on the turkish side of the border, which struck panic with people injured. the kurds have vowed to stand and fight with against what they see as turkish aggressors. but what we're seeing behind me is columns of smoke and this, we believe, is being replicated right along this border. 70 km away, for example, is the town where we also hear that there are turkish shelling and turkish jets circling overhead, checking to see if this operation will continue. president erdogan speaking a short time ago saying that 100 kurdish fighters have been cured in his operation so far. fighters have been killed in his operation so far. now we cannot verify that number, but it shows just how intense some of the clashes are proving to be. and this

let's speak now to our middle east correspondent, martin patience, who is at the syrian—turkish bordere and any kurdish response? well, just in the last minute or so, we heard turkish shelling going on behind me. you might be able to see a plume of smoke. that is in a syrian town, one of the town is that this turkish offensive is targeting, and that's not the first time that that happened this morning. we know that happened this morning. we know that turkish tanks are in that town. we know that there were fierce clashes overnight between turkish soldiers, fighting kurdish fighters from the syrian democratic forces. so it's a tense situation along this border, with shelling in another town about 50 miles from where i am standing. we spoke to one man earlier today, and he said again there was turkish shelling and again turkish jets were circling overhead. so what we are seeing is turkey moving into northern syria. the idea, from their point of view, is to push the kurds out and create what they say is a safe haven, which will allow millions of syrian refugees, currently residing in turke

from the capital beirut, our middle east correspondent, martin patience reports.g an extraordinary revolt against their politicians. for now, at least, a sense of national unity has replaced the country's bitter sectarian divisions. for the first time in this country, there is a real unity, and not a fake one like we've seen before. the economic situation and the corruption in government has become so bad that everyone can agree on one thing — these people are criminals and they need to leave. do you want the government to step down? of course i want the government to step down and we also want to be, like, in a logic way, not just like in the chaotic way, because the government, actually the country, lebanon, doesn't need to be in a chaotic way. the country's prime minister is besieged from every quarter. translation: you are calling for your dignity, your patriotic and individual dignity, basic services, job opportunities and, above all, respect for your demands. and make no mistake, you are heard. the prime minister's promise to slash politicians' pay is unlike

from the capital beirut, our middle east correspondent martin patience reports.aging an extraordinary revolt against their politicians. for now, at least, a sense of national unity has replaced the country's bitter sectarian divisions. for the first time in this country, there is a real unity, and not a fake one like we've seen before. the economic situation and the corruption in government has become so bad that everyone can agree on one thing — these people are criminals and they need to leave. do you want the government to step down? of course i want the government to step down and we also want to be, like, in a logic way, not just like in the chaotic way, because the government, actually the country, lebanon, doesn't need to be in a chaotic way. the country's prime minister is besieged from every quarter. translation: you are calling for your dignity, your patriotic and individual dignity, basic services, job opportunities and, above all, respect for your demands. and make no mistake, you are heard. the prime minister's promise to slash politicians‘ pay is un

martin patience reports from the turkey syria border.ensive. turkish forces, targeting key syrian town where kurdish fighters are still holed up. turkey is not bowing to international pressure. on the border, its military build—up continues. but kurdish fighters are firing back. this footage, shows a mortar landing ina this footage, shows a mortar landing in a turkish town. back in syria, families are fleeing for their lives. thousands of miles away, donald trump weighing up his options in public. you have the choice of bringing in the military, and defeating everybody again. you have a choice of financially doing some very strong things to turkey. so that they take it a little bit easy on, really, competition that is... i don't think it is being fairly treated in many ways, ok, we have a very good relationship with kurds. orwe can very good relationship with kurds. or we can mediate. i hope we can mediate, i hope we can mediate. the us, largely sidelined in the new age of diplomacy, offered traditional solutions. i want to express my de

our correspondent martin patience is in beirut with the latest.te last night, and president trump agree that american forces would move out of that area of north—east syria. the turkish president wanted that because he views the kurds fighting in that part of syria as terrorists. from the american point of view, these same men have led the fight against the so—called islamic state group, so from their point of view, they believe that this is a com plete view, they believe that this is a complete and utter betrayal, and that they have been completely let down by their american allies. so, what is likely to happen? again, we are waiting to see what moves turkey takes. it says it will invade that part of northern syria. we don't know how big the invasion is going to be. it might even be some kind of incursion, purely symbolic. but again, will the kurds then fight back? let's not forget, it is the kurds who are holding around 70,000 islamic state prisoners as well as women and children in that part of the country. what will they do? will they simply r

our correspondent martin patience has been at the syria—turkey border.allied with america. now that america's pulled out, the kurds have gone over to the syrian regime. how, according to syrian officials, the syrian army will push up now, according to syrian officials, the syrian army will push up to the turkish border. but what we have to remember is a propaganda war is being fought here and the syrian military is utterly exhausted, but it is worth pointing out the syrian government is backed by russia and iran. so therefore if turkey is to attack kurdish forces, it would be in turn attacking russia and iran and i think thatjust gives you some idea of how dangerous this conflict can be. we are at a very dangerous moment. as for the situation in north east syria at the moment, we hear it is chaotic, the turkish advance is continuing right along this border, with around 150,000 civilians now having fled the violence. so it is a chaotic situation and many syrians are simply running for their lives at the moment. families of people killed by sepsis are warn

middle east correspondent martin patience is there.ell, the syrians are behind me, and throughout this morning, we have seen heavy turkish shelling. that seems to be their response to the american sanction. the turkish president, for his part, says he will not back down, that this offensive will continue until turkey achieves what he called the ultimate victory. the situation you have on the ground is you now have the syrian government forces backed by russia and iran inside manbij, with reports of pro—turkish forces around that town. and the potential there for a confrontation between all these powers is real, and that is what everybody is worried about. turkey claims that its offensive which they are calling "peace spring" is an attempt to bring stability to a region that has been in constant conflict for many years. it considers the ypg, which is the biggest militia within the kurdish led syrian democratic forces, as a terrorist organisation, that needs to be driven from the area. here's president erdogan on what he is trying to ach

martin patience has more on that issue. if they are forced to fight turkish soldiers in that part ofd thousands of islamic state prisoners and there are some suggestions that the kurds simply won't have the capabilities to hold those prisoners, they will be set free, we know the one thing that is thrives on and that is chaos. president erdogan also hopes this new safe zone can be home to some of the 3 million syrian refugees in turkey. here's ece goksedef from bbc turkish on how that might work. there was a plan to resettle the refugees, 3.6 million refugees in turkey, to the safe zone, but it needs a housing project and it needs 30 kilometres of safe zone, but now it might change because we don't know the details of the safe zone or the military operation which turkey is now planning, so we will know the details after the us withdrawal ends and it seems like there might be only 5—6 kilometres of syrian turkey border so it might only take a hundred syrian refugees and this also requires a settlement project which will cost millions of dollars to turkey. who pays for the houses? turke

let‘s speak now to our middle east correspondent martin patience who is at the syrian—turkish border.tance is one syrian town, and late last night there was reportedly fierce clashes between turkish national forces that had moved into the town as well as kurdish dominated syrian democratic forces. by dominated syrian democratic forces. by midnight last night, turkey said it had hit more than 118 targets across northern syria with air strikes, as well as artillery. we know that turkish troops have moved into northern syria at many points across the border and the latest we have from turkish officials is that operations are still going on, and about 60 miles away from here is one town, and we spoke to a man inside that town and he said it was being hit by turkish shelves as well as turkish jets circling overhead, hit by turkish shelves as well as turkishjets circling overhead, so this is an offensive well under way. reports of casualties so far, according to kurdish forces, seven civilians killed and about 20 others injured. now this offensive has been unleashed, so to speak, do you see

let's go live now to our correspondent martin patience who's on the turkey/syria border.on of this fighting? what we are seeing in the past half an hourorso is what we are seeing in the past half an hour or so is continued turkish shelling into syria with the bourdy area behind me. iwas speaking shelling into syria with the bourdy area behind me. i was speaking to one woman who was inside syria in one woman who was inside syria in one of the towns that has been targeted, not far from where i am, and she described absolutely chaotic scenes. she said the shelling started yesterday, her and 20 members of their family were forced to run for their lives. extraordinarily, she told me she tried to go back to the house because they left with nothing but they were not able to do so to pick up they were not able to do so to pick up some belongings, simply because the shelling was so intense. that is a snapshot of what is happening on the syrian side of the border. you have co nte nt the syrian side of the border. you have content that —— tens of thousands of people on the move and

our correspondent martin patience has more from the syrian border with turkey.. about this, a week ago the kurds were allied with america. now that america's pulled out, the kurds have gone over to the syrian regime. the kurds were left scrambling to find protection and news procrastinate that they had reached an agreement with the syrian government. kurdish officials say it's a better compromise but they simply had no other choice. and then early today, reports of syrian government forces heading northwards towards the turkish border. we know according to reports that they've entered two times in the northeast of the country. as for a techie, it's offensive continues on two other times including the line behind me and throughout the day we see turkish air strikes. it's only a matter of time until that time fall. i think the big danger now is potential flash points on the border. if you have a situation where pro—turkish forces are fighting syrian government forces which lets not forget, is backed by russia and iran. that is the danger of this syrian conflict, i

our correspondent, martin patience, has sent this report from the turkey—syria border. syrian—turkish border. we have seen turkish shelling throughout the morning on the syrian town and village, behind me. you can probably see the columns of smoke, rising on the horizon. but the kurds have been responding, by firing into a nearby turkish town. this is the latest salvo of the syrian war. turkey, this morning, shelling positions in the north of the country. last night, its forces pushed into key towns along the border. kurdish fighters, vowing to stop the turkish advance, fired back. the men, who led the fight against the islamic state group, are battle hardened. cheering. but without american support, they‘ re completely outgunned, by the turkish military. civilians are also caught in the crossfire. translation: after the turkish shelling on the border areas, so far we have received ten patients. two of them are critical and are having surgery. the number of injured is on the rise every hour, but we, the medical staff, are ready. america has been accused of stabbing the

martin patience explains why.vil war in the 1980s, and the way to end that war was a power—sharing agreement. that cuts across religious and sectarian lines, so basically in lebanon your politicians represent religious groups. now, they dominate political life, but where it breaks down is if, say, for example, you want a job in a bank and you are not sunni or shia or christian, you perhaps won't get thatjob. and many will say, yes, that's kept the peace in lebanon for the last 30 years, but what it's meant is you have a mentality of divide and conquer, so there's no national outlook. it's a very sectarian... everything is based on sectarian politics, what is right for the sunni bloc, the shia bloc, the christian bloc. what the protesters on the ground are saying, enough of that, we've had enough of that. we need to look forward and move forward in terms of lebanon itself, and that's what they are demanding, an end to the old way of doing politics here. the message of these protests is serious — but the protests ha

martin patience is monitoring events in beirut for us and says the kurds feel abandoned.merica, with islamic state all but defeated, certainly territorially, they feel that america have washed their hands of them. and thrown them to the wolves. i mean, the big concern now is if turkey does invade, then the kurds will pull away from the fight against the so—called islamic state and the extremists could well well stage a comeback. let's not forget that it's the kurds who have detained thousands of is prisoners. and what they have been saying is if there is a turkish invasion, they simply would have the resources to look after the prisoners. —— they simply will not have the resources . and that could well lead to a major break—out in that part of syria. so any turkish invasion will inject a dangerous new dynamic into what is already an incredibly complex battlefield in syria. a new study suggests that culling badgers could potentially increase the risk of spreading tuberculosis to cattle, rather than controlling it. the research, by london zoo and imperial college london, fo

martin patience, bbc news, beirut.ing, we may be in the process of leaving syria, but in no way have we abandoned the kurds, who are a special people and wonderful fighters. likewise, our relationship with turkey has been very good, turkey already has a large kurdish population. so let's get these thoughts now abduct ashok kumar, a lecturer in international political economy at birkbeck university. —— thoughts of dr ashok kumar. president trump under attack in the united states, the accusation that he has abandoned the kurds, but saying in that light is tweety is not doing that at all. what do you think? -- in that latest tweet he is not doing that at all, what do you think you are he is full of bluster, erdogan was on the phone with him and he folded like origami. that's probably not a single thing he has said recently that was accurate. it was trump, not obama, that financed and armed the kurds macro, it was 11,000 kurds and sdf allied forces that your cracker, the isis capital, not a single american diet. two months

our correspondent martin patience has the latest.picture may get even more complicated as president ed ruane told the gm just how far he wa nted ed ruane told the gm just how far he wanted to save soon to extend. the us president faced the furious backlash of washington for a p pa re ntly backlash of washington for apparently giving turkey to go ahead for their offensive. donald trump thinks fighting endless wars is no longer america‘s business. thinks fighting endless wars is no longer america's business. we have beenin longer america's business. we have been in syria for many years. syria was meant to be a short—term hit, we we re was meant to be a short—term hit, we were supposed to be in a doubt. that was many, many years ago. i have told turkey that if they do anything outside of what we would think as humane, they could separate the raft ofan humane, they could separate the raft of an extremely decimated economy. islamic state thrives on chaos. any conflict between turkey and the kurds could allow the extremists to stage a come

martin patience reports from the turkey/syria border. there is no letup in this military offensive.re firing back. this footage shows a mortar landing in a turkish town. back in syria, families are fleeing for their lives. thousands of miles away, donald trump, weighing up his options in public. you have the choice of bringing in the military and defeating everybody again, or you have the choice of financially doing some very strong things to turkey, so that they take it a little bit easy on, really, competition that is, i don't think it is being fairly treated in many ways, ok, we have a very good relationship with kurds, or we can mediate. i hope we can mediate, john, i hope we can mediate. the un, largely sidelined in the new age of diplomacy, offered traditional solutions. i want to express my deep concern about the escalation of conflict we are witnessing in eastern syria. it is absolutely essential to have a deescalation in this conflict. military operations must always respect the united nations charter and international human law. but that will be of little comfort to the ku

speaking from the turkey—syria border, our correspondent martin patience said there are tens of thousands her family were forced to flee and run for their lives. she told me she tried to go back to the house because they left with nothing. they were not able to do so, pick up some belongings, because the shelling was so intense. that is a snapshot of what is happening on the syrian side of the border. there are tens of thousands of families on the move. we do know that kurdish fighters are staying in some of those towns and they are firing back. in this turkish town, three mortar shells landed killing three people yesterday. seven civilian casualties yesterday. the most reliable figures is perhaps 30 kurdish fighters have been killed along with ten civilians. the longer this operation goes on, the fears will grow for a humanitarian crisis. and this morning during a press conference in istanbul with turkish foreign minister mevlut cavusoglu, the nato secretary—generaljens stoltenberg urged military restraint in the region. while turkey has legitimate security concerns, i expect turkey to a