mohamed val, al jazeera. >>> lebanese army has begun a temporary ceasefire to allow mediators to enter the town bordering syria. the town has been battling, and tacked positions on saturday. 6 and at least 16 soldiers have been killed. jan ferguson reports from lebanon's capitol, beirut. >> battling fighters from syria. on saturday and sunday military checkpoints and since were seized by gunmen believed to be part of the islamic fighting group. >> the gunmen are everywhere, niche my house, they put a checkpoint there and they are preventing anyone to expwhrer or leave. >> many thousands of peoples live there including many syrian refugees. they are being treated in a camp hospital. >> there is no place for them to go. >> reporter: heavy shelling and street fighting continued on monday as the lebanese army tried to take control and the country's political leaders pushed for a quick end to the lebanon attack. prime minister says he will continue with the military solution. >> there is no solution with sunni extremist fighters who are looking to bring the war to lebanon. we will use all s

mohamed val has the details. >> reporter: calm and anticipation in northern yemen after the signing of a ceasefire agreement on monday. the truce ended several weeks of fighting between the yemeni army and rebels. they were fighting along the border with saudi arabia. last month the two sides had reached a similar ceasefire but it soon collapsed. now a presidential committee says guarantees are in place for a lasting agreement. >> translator: both the parties have agreed to put an end to the conflict. pull out of their positions. a and to initially hand them over to the mediators. >> reporter: there are causes for concern. some of the factions affiliated with the hutis as well as the local tribes are not happy with the agreement. they refuse to give up some of the territory under their control. this has presented the main parties to the agreement with a challenge. >> translator: we laid down a plan for it. first eliminate points of tension to observe a ceasefire and both sides to back off to where they had come from. this is an initial step. >> reporter: this is one of the least develo

mohammed val has our exclusive report. syria rebels on the offensive in aleppo.v obtained by al jazeera. they say they have stormed the security unit in the western side of the city. the unit was tasked with protecting the aleppo military academy which hosts the syrian army's main base in the area. >> rebels say they have occupied several blocks allowing them to inch closer to the based on saturday. this building in front of us is that of the military security unit. >> we did it by the grace of god and that i can to the heroism of our mujahadine. >> they say it's key because it's the site where the syrian army maps out its strategy for the eastern front. it's also under the supervision of syrian, iranian, iraqi and hezbollah military officers. the new oftenbsive comes a few weeks after government troops made some major advances against the rebels by retaking the industry area and the eastern district. rebels say if they take this area, they may keep the balance of pour in their favor and they will be able to interrupt the army's only supply route to its basis in

mohammed val has our exclusive report. syrian rebels, this video obtained by al jazeera.hey say they have stormed the security unit in the assad area in the western side of the city. the unit was tasked with protectths the military academy which hosts the syrian's army's main base in the area. the rebels say they have occupied several blocks allowing them to inch closer to the based on saturday. >> this building on front of us is that of the military security unit? >> we did it by the greats of god and thanks to the haeroism f our mujahadine. they say it's key because it's the site where the syrian army maps out its strategy for the eastern front. it's also under the supervision of syrian, iranian, ramie and hezbollah military offices. a few weeks after major advances by retaking the industrial area and the eastern district. >> if they take this area, they may tip the balance of pour in their favor and they will beability interrupt the army's only supply route to the basis in this side of aleppo. staying with syria and government fors have recordly killed at least 50 rebe

mohamed val, al jazeera. >>> joining us from the phone in northern iraq is donatella rivera.nk you so much for joining us. you've traveled extensively in the north of iraq. what would you say are the main threats to the civilians there from the group called islamic state? >> well, we've seen the brutality that they have employed in mosul, iraq's second city which has now been under i.s.i.s. control for almost two months. and in recent day their takeover of the sinjar area, the town of and other towns and villages nearby, we've seen a repeat of the same practices. the community, the main community there, being yizidis, are particularly vulnerable . they have been the target of attacks by splawk extremist groups over and over -- being islamic extremist groups over and over again. this is by far the worst, we are seeing tens of thousands, well over 100,000 as we know, some of them tens of thousands of them are trapped in a mountain area, cannot leave because the roads are now controlled by i.s.i.s. militants. and their humanitarian situation is absolutely dire. they are lacking

mohammed, val, al jazeera. >>> president obama is back in washington taking a pause from his vacation. much of his time was taken up by press briefings. the white house says developments in ferguson, missouri whim be talked about. the president will be briefed on the crisis in iraq. >>> still ahead, ukrainian forces retake part of a rebel-held town in the east, while a russian aid convoy remains stalled on the other side of the border. >>> in "the week ahead" rutgers takes part in a new pilot program to track sexual assaults on campuses. that is sparking a debate. >>> in ukraine a military convoy led by pro-russian fighters is going towards a town in the ukraine/russian border. they're set to deliver supplies to war-torn areas. as tensions continue in ukraine, the foreign ministers of russia and ukraine met in berlin today, but the german foreign minister said the two are far apart. >> translator: the situation in ukraine continues to be difficulty. today's news shows we are far from ending en. we're far from reaching a political solution. >> the military says it scored a big victory