it is now clear the us is deeply unhappy with what you are doing in northern syria. with the way the us is acting in syria. imagine a nato ally thatis acting in syria. imagine a nato ally that is supposed to be combating global terror — turkey has been that for the us, has been an dependable partner — imagine your partner, your ally moving 10,000 kilometres away, coming toa ally moving 10,000 kilometres away, coming to a country where you have 9/11 kilometres of border, turkey and syria, and, underthe 9/11 kilometres of border, turkey and syria, and, under the pretext of combating another terror group, arm and train and other terror group to fight another terror group that clearly. . . fight another terror group that clearly... are you accusing the americans of essentially arming and supporting a terrorist army? world... let's be clear... well, the us knows that it is a direct offshoot of, a subsidiary, of pkk. let's be blunt about this. it is in —— an astounding thing to say, it leads to this scenario. in the next few weeks your forces would be going to war with the

as well because syrian kurdish militias in northern syria have been working with the u.s. in battling islamic state washington obviously as an opponent of syria's president bashar assad or the kurds not at risk of alienating their u.s. allies by cooperating with assad's troops. well that will be a factor here but you have to realize this whole syrian conflict has been characterized by contradictory policies being followed by all sides both inside syria and those countries involved in supporting the various factions the syrian kurds yes they are being backed by the us but the same time they've had very close relations with moscow as well and in other parts of the syrian civil war the syrian kurdish militia have actually fought with the syrian regime forces but in other parts of syria they've actually fought against it's full of contradictions is conflict that is why it's proving such an intractable conflict and extremely difficult to resolve this latest alliance between the regime syrian regime and the kurdish forces will add another layer of complexity to this conflict dori

led coalition announced it was intending to build a border security force in northern syria it would consist of thirty thousand mostly kurdish fighters who've been helping in the battle to get rid of eisel but that strained u.s. relations with turkey of course a key nato ally turkey launched an offensive to secure its border and clear a friend of the y.p. g. the kurdish fighters it considers to be terrorists ankara says the group's an offshoot of the p.k. k. the kurdistan workers party with which turkey has been in conflict for three decades russia controls the airspace over threaten but the head of the turkish operation it withdrew hundreds of its soldiers from near the city kurdish fighters held after in six years ago after the syrian president bashar al assad soldiers left northern syria. let's go to our guests now joining us from istanbul mohammed yangon and affiliates of the political science department at the university of bill kent in bilin sell a muslim member of the diplomatic committee of tev demme the movement for democratic society that's an alliance bringing kurds togeth

essentially set up the kurds in northern syria for this offensive by turkey. well i mean when you look at history and you know go back a couple of decades and remember what happened the iraqi kurdistan right after the gulf war it was pretty much the same scenario because there are also a kurds in iraq and the u.s. at the time armed and supported the iraqi kurds which had deeply alarmed the turkish state at the time and you know turkey turkey was very upset again you know sort of talked about terrorism threats etc over time turkey's policies have changed now the turkish state at the moment has good relations with the barzani vision who barzani is a leader of the iraqi kurds and that was opposing you know the kurdish autonomy in syria i think we need to from the first when we talk about turkey and turkey policies in order to understand what's going on we need to sort of think remember history and put all of this in historical context and just remember that from its foundation from the foundation of the turkish republic one of the sort of red lines all of the off

essentially set up the kurds in northern syria for this offensive by turkey?hen you look at history and go back a couple of decades and remember what happened after the gulf war two iraqi kurdistan, it was pretty much the same scenario because there are also kurds in iraq and the u.s. at the time armed and supported the iraqi kurds, which had deeply alarmed the turkish state at the time. turkey was very upset, sort of talked about terrorism threat, etc. over time, turkey's politics have changed and the turkish state at the moment has a good relationship with the leader of kurds now opposing the kurdish autonomy in syria. when we talk about kurds turkeyd turkey's policies in order to understand what is going on, we need to remember history and put all of this in a historical context and remember that from its foundation, rom the foundation of the turkish republic, one of the red lines of the official ideology in turkey has been to ensure that kurds everywhere, including in turkey, did not have autonomy and self rule in any way, be it a state, be it an autonomy

welcome to the program so is offensive against the kurds in northern syria looks likely to escalate after a previously unthinkable deal between the syrian government and kurds in syria's afferent region to damascus has agreed to send pro-government of fighters to the rebel held area in order to help repel turkish troops syrian forces will fight alongside the syrian democratic forces. roll call two hundred fighters from the syrian democratic forces or s.d.f. present for inspection at their barracks the exact location here in northern syria cannot be revealed it's the same ritual here every day at five am. you don't want. the assembled officers say that they carry on the fight of their martyrs inspired by their spirit and the blood they spilt these men are between eighteen and forty and our currency arabs christians their respect for the fall and unites them against the terrorist forces of i-s. and their determination to defend their homeland. young intel and s.t.'s forces have freed shuji areas from my ass and from the al nusra front. that they have stabilized the region and are now well p

yet in some villages in northern syria people are fearful again like intel. one sixty five christian orthodox families live here now there are only seven. and. most fled because of ah yes it's especially in christian inhabited communities where the terrorist group left destruction in their wake expelled or killed the population and blew up churches. has said when i saw that i was in shock and just cried. in this house i a smil it since showed their wrath and left their names on the walls the family here was able to flee in time now that this village is freed the inhabitants have to worry again along with erda once allies the free syrian army radical islamic groups are also coming to the region that brings back nightmarish feelings. they. were before and. i consider heir to one the greatest terrorist he's a criminal who attacks innocent people and takes their land away his allies around him are all i-s. people who knew that. the evening meal is rather meager and yet these s.d.s. officers voice their confidence in the wake of attacks from turkey the u.s. offers

could that potentially change if the turkey is into other parts of northern syria that's the. issue but the other issue is that yes this area is away from u.s. support but u.s. officials actually greenlighted poor or maybe more silent at the beginning of this attack mostly because that they assume this attack will be limited and isolated attack in africa but as we've seen in the last fourteen days that the attack has been linked to the rest of northern syria y p g's reinforcing their troops in. a free and. any a defeat of y p g which is looked on likely at the moment can or destabilize most of northern syria so in that sense. that's why probably we've seen more harsher comments coming from washington afterwards well it is in many ways washington's policy of continued support for the why p.g. that has angered the turks is that support likely to continue in the face of such strong opposition now backed up by military action from techie well the u.s. alliance on the ground gives us access to you know one to the syria almost you have those military bases there has invested heavily

al what does it have to do with turkey's military incursion into northern syria?ur question this week is --"deniz yucel: what game is turkey playing?" to discuss that question, i am joined in the studio by bulent says freedom for deniz yucel does not symbolize a serious change in turkey. unfortunately, there is no place for hope yet. also with us is michael harman -- michael thumann. he says turkey is hoping for transitional deals but value stand in the way of closer relations with germany. and a warm welcome to ulrike herrmann. and she argues that president erdogan wants to make sure he is not fighting on too many friends. ts.too many fron you are a friend of deniz yucel. his person became so important to so many in germany. he was one of the most ambitious and reliable journalists in turkey as a foreign journalist. his stories always made the government so angry. created a case a to put him in prison. as a person who has two different passports he became a symbol. taken by theage turkish government against germany. lawunrest had no links with and even his releas

and meanwhile a turkish military helicopter has been shot down in northern syria during an operation there against kurdish fighters that this video is said to show the helicopter just moments before it was downed killing two soldiers who were on board at the time mo turkish president range of time says it happened near the southern hatay province tomorrow sheilds joins me live from the texas city of kathy antipas near the border with syria hi there jim what are the other details that we know right. well as you mentioned the helicopter was part of what is known as operation olive branch that is a military operation that was launched three weeks ago by the turkish army together with their allies their proxies on the ground the free syrian army to essentially push back kurdish fighters belonging to the wide p.g.a. now the y.p. . group considered to be a terrorist organization by charkhi because it's continuously systematically attacks turkish interests in fact has been launching rockets against our q four so for weeks now killing at least seven civilians now this operation after today's

interesting what's going on with turkey here because again they're butting heads with the us in northern syria and i'm not giving any and justification for the illegal invasion of syria by turkey but the interesting gambit that is being played out here is the two most important countries in nato are at odds with each other in a third country that has nothing to do with nato nato sphere of influence has put it that way. the interesting thing is that you see the turks are are really looking at different options right now ok i'm not convinced they're the most reliable partner but a lot of people feel that way include. nato and so will so i'm i think we're seeing a real drift here i don't think turkey would give up nato they would want something for it ok a lot of people are saying they're going to walk away from one of the rebels will leverage their way one way or another but that's really the changing shifting sands of what's going on because of this proxy war in syria go ahead into iran well trump actually promised the turkish president that the u.s. will stop funding the the wife e.g. which is

so fish military helicopter crashes near syria's northern border with conflicting reports over the course of the incidents that happened in an area where turkey is carrying out a military operation against kurdish militias. meanwhile in southern syria israel strikes twelve targets off to damascus downs an idea fighter jets are calling it a response to israeli aggression. in the south korean president said he's ready to accept an invitation from kim jong un to visit north korea and the latest sign of foreign relations between the two countries. with italy's general election less than a month away both far right supporters and anti fascist activists are demonstrating in a city after a racially motivated shooting we speak to the increasingly popular right wing leader norwood party. in the next election and the people use it. and this is the only we. alone welcome only aaron and this is r.t. international good to have your company this hour now we do bridge begin this hour with breaking news a turkish military helicopter has crashed near syria's northern border the turkish president has accus

took his president says one of the country's military helicopters has been downed in syria's northern border where i'm chris carrying out a military operation against kurdish militias it considers terrorists. meanwhile in southern syria israel strikes twelve targets softer damascus downs an idea fighter jets calling it a response to israeli aggression. in the south korean president is that he's ready to accept an invitation from kim jong un to visit north korea and the latest sign of foreign relations between the two countries. hundreds of anti fascist activists are demonstrating in a city after a racially motivated shooting as the far right is increasingly gaining popularity against ahead of next month's general election we speak to the right wing leader north party. we've been. in the next election and the people use it to vote and this is the only we are. a warm welcome you're watching r.t. international with me mickey aaron good to have you with us this hour. a turkish military helicopter has crashed near syria's northern border where turkey is carrying out an operation against ku

grow in northern syria that cooperation is still a jump from some of the claims. and that is the reason my we called this panel turkey in between. between them. it seems like it's black black-and-white between partnering with the white pg h versus the nato ally. it also we can't ignore the fact we will take the question to the back. with the american service. my question is directed and that market. since she mentioned iran as a player in syria i wanted to know what is your take on the effort to be concentrating in order to curb the influence in the syrian conflict. that is a really hard question. i have to tell you given everything that's going on and i don't actually had any advice on that even for russia the physical deterrence they put loops on the ground it's not just the issues that they support they have a strong presidency. to support the regime the troops on the ground that's the key. i think the other project. with the united states they have formal relationsh with the government and its considered the very close ally noel formal ties or help the kurds g

catastrophe as government forces intensify their offensive on the rebel—held idlib province in northern syriahis is a polar bear‘s view of the arctic — scientists say their numbers are in decline because they expend too much energy hunting for food. now it is time look at the stories that are making the headlines in media across the world. we begin with the daily telegraph, and its main story is that health service leaders have warned that compensation payoffs must be cut, or the nhs will go bust. the guardian claims labour is considering forcing landowners to give up sites at knock—down prices to build more council houses. arab news reports that women will be allowed to drive taxis and other commercial vehicles in oman from march first as part of a drive to give women equal business and employment rights.

so we have worked together and achieved a lot so the challenge now is of course what we see in northern syria. there nato is not present on the ground in order in syria united states is and turkey is i welcome that they have died of contact and all that sector mathis met with his his counterpart the turkish defense minister during the nato defense ministers and also that secretary tillerson met an uncle so. the important thing is to make sure that turkey and not the states have died contact and they have and then turkey also briefed all nato allies turkey has some legitimate because security concerns have suffered more toes attacks than any other nato ally but they have to respond in a proportionate and measured way. you are so mentioned you are strong concern about north korea and the threat of nuclear confrontation and you called for maximum pressure to be put on north korea including by european countries the fact is north korea is really only interested in the united states what more can be done what is that maximum pressure you called for. we need stronger economic sanctions and the unit

deal of some kind struck and what does it all have to do with turkey's military incursion into northern syria so our question here on quadriga this week then as you joe is free but what game is turkey playing and to discuss that question i'm joined here in the studio by. who writes only turkey for the front for the argument and site he says freedom for dennys you joe doesn't symbolize a serious change into unfortunately there is no place for hope yet it's also with us his mission to man as a foreign policy specialist for the weekly sites he lived for several years in istanbul and he argues that turkey is hoping for transactional deals but values stand in the way of closer relations with germany and a warm welcome troops are already cahow men author and journalist with the berlin based daily the target sites on board since it is also. worked for many years and you'll recall. argues that after one wants to make sure he's not fighting on too many fronts he needs germany because in syria he's provoking the america just remember my let's begin with you you are a friend of dennis you gel explain fo

three weeks ago the turkish army launched an operation across the border in northern syria. turkey is fighting the group ypg partner inhe u.s.' syria. can everybody hear me? ok. and ypg isgroup partnered with the united states elsewhere in the fight against isis, so this causes all sorts of competition for turkey, the u.s., and policy in general. we have three great panelists with us today to talk about this. i will introduce them. the author ofs "blood and belief." she is a well-known effort on the kurdish national movement. --n we have merve tahiroglu gonul tol, who serves as an adjunct professor at g.w. and then we have amberin zaman, one of the best journalists from turkey. i want to start the conversation. i want to first ask you a question, because part of the problem with the operation and what we have been hearing here is that turkey says it is fighting the ypg because the ypg poses the number one security threat to turkey. it is saying that because the ag isn't offshoot of the pkk, group that has been fighting inside turkey for the last few decades. you know the move

catastrophe as government forces intensify their offensive on the rebel—held idlib province in northern syriapolar bear‘s view of the arctic — scientists say numbers are in decline because they expend too much energy hunting for food. and coming up in the business briefing, another record quarter for apple — despite a fall in iphone sales. can it still blossom into silicon valley's first trillion dollar company? plusjuggling three kids and 15,000 staff. we hear from the boss of booking.com on why more women should aim for the top in tech. a warm welcome to the programme, briefing you on all you need to know in global news, business, and sport. and you can be part of the conversat are toys just not us anymore? as the toymaker mattel reports poor sales over the holiday period, are children's best friends now gadgets, electronics, digital? tell us what you think. just use the hashtag #bbcthebriefing. the british prime minister hasjust addressed business leaders in china, as she ends a three day trip to promote trade. earlier, theresa may met the chinese president and prime minister, and pledged

that certain situation would be imposed in northern syria that could fit his own interests and that could that he could present. again to the turkish public and that's why. the turkish government declared that it wouldn't fire and continue its military operations just prefer if you can just bring sure in time with parts of eastern occupied by terror groups that are not party to this ceasefire how can any safe humanitarian access be daryn t. do you think. well. i believe that the humanitarian aid that the us called for is a pretext for opened the door to the terrorists to supply them with. with other logistics i believe that this was the true intention of the united states. that's why i believe that the russians had to intervene and to amend the. two because there is directed view of fighting terrorism mainly i says and i'm sort of so. we need to admit the fact that the united states is using terrorist groups. tools. war by proxy on the syrian government and on syria and also on the iraqi government to control these two countries that are highly strategic for american geopolitical strategy

in northern syria and i'm not giving any of justification for the illegal invasion of syria by turkey but the interesting gambit that is being played out here is the two most important countries in nato are at odds with each other in a third country that has nothing to do with nato nato sphere of influence has put it that way. the interesting thing is that you see the turks are really looking at different options right now ok i'm not convinced the most reliable partner but a lot of people feel that way including nato and so we'll see i think we're seeing a real drift here i don't think turkey would give up nato they would want something for it ok a lot of people are saying they got to walk away and i know they'll leverage their way one way or another but that's really the changing shifting sands of what's going on because of this proxy war in syria go ahead into well tromp actually promised the turkish president the u.s. will stop. the genie which is carefully a terrorist organization that's killed many turks and then almost immediately afterwards the military and the united states st

after turkey's controversial use of german leopard tanks against the kurds in northern syria both sides know a strengthening of ankara and butlins military ties would likely be unpopular. well now i'm a gret karrenbauer might not be a name that rolls off the tongue especially for non german speakers try saying it ten times fast but you might be hearing it a lot more because in the future because chancellor angela merkel has told her conservative c.d.u. party that she would like her to become its general secretary that means that she would be in charge of the party's david day operations and of places her in pole position to take over as chancellor if america steps down it's by all means a colorful choice and a good come combo of the take the position as general secretary of the cd hugh although she already has helped more important posts within the party but conservative leader uncle america wanted a party manager whom she can trust one hundred percent and on a good come come by has been close to america for many years we can once again when we have known each other for many years now a

bellamy let me go to you here i mean this is the united states i mean it's interesting the area of northern syria that could run that's really where the serious is ok and denying syria the ability to rebuild is when in fact you know telling the entire world that they will be sanctioned if you give money to the government in damascus to rebuild another round of sanctions against rebuilding a country that.

let me go to you here i mean this is the united states i mean it's interesting the area of northern syria there that's really where the serious all is ok and denying syria the ability to rebuild is when in fact you know telling the entire world that they will be sanctioned if you give money to the government in damascus to rebuild another round of sanctions against rebuilding a country that the united states is it has a great deal of responsibility for destroying in the first place go ahead in london well i believe the united states realized they were defeated in syria been a project in syria was completely defeated and russia got hands. i mean could be that the building of syria again so at least building needs money and syria needs the oil gaz which is then instead of that is where the oil fields are situated so it seems the american.

now turkey says it's suffered its deadliest day yet in northern syria since launching its offensive against wife e.g. kurdish fighters there more than two weeks ago on saturday seven turkish soldiers died in fighting turkey wants to push the wife e.g. who says the terrorists out of our frame want to create a buffer zone along the border or elsewhere in syria a russian fighter jets being shot down by opposition forces over province russia's defense ministry says the pilot managed to reject what was then killed in a ground fight near the town of south africa afterwards moscow launched dozens of strikes ten civilians have been killed and russia says it killed thirty fighters there's been heavy fighting in it live for weeks now the u.n. saying about one hundred thousand civilians have been displaced seventy deca joins us live from montauk in southern turkey near the syrian border so stephanie how much of a game changer is it now that the the rebels have demonstrated they can down a russian jet. but they won't have to wait to see sami adds you know nothing is simple inside syria certainly a huge

welcome back as turkey denies pentagon claims over arguably the nato civil war in northern syria what exactly is going on and why does juries amaze government defacto support attacks on those allied to washington and moscow joining me now is michelle allison the women's representative of the kurdish national congress thanks so much for coming back on so nothing really in the mainstream media of nato nations about this what is the scituate. in africa human rights watch things we had sex in january killed twenty six including many children. the numbers are getting is much higher now from the ground it's over two hundred people civilians being killed a lot of children and love elderly's and women have been killed in their homes and also there is a tax a clearing guys you was used to exit go over a week ago to examine the nearly and the doctors in the hospital have verified seven people was injured that there are two very seriously injured i think one of the last is like one lost their lives and so the humanitarian crisis is really it's in a very very serious stage where nobody is talking

turkey's military helicopter has been shot down in northern syria during an operation against kurdish fighters to turkish soldiers on board and killed eight south korean president when j.m.s. received a rare invitation to visit pyongyang north korea's leader kim jong. il modi has wrapped up the first official visit by an indian prime minister to palestine he's met palestinian president mahmoud abbas a trip to the west bank it's part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east well earlier he laid a wreath on the tomb of former palestinian leader yasser arafat let's get more on this with the stuff oh good good see he's the secretary general of the palestinian national initiative and joins us live via skype from ramallah survey where warm welcome to the program what do you make of modi's visit. well it can be a balancing act. people have been on was very supportive to the palestinian cause but during the last. government. building that relations with specially military cooperation with. israel and. has been. this visit is important because maybe it brings back some ba

that was just a fraction of the violence this week in northern syria, you write. so, first, let's talk about what you found on the ground. you were just recently there. then, this global set of countries that continue to pummel syria. well, thank you so much first of all, for being interested in this subject. it is very important that it continues to be talked about. i have to correct one thing -- i was not in syria since about one year ago, and the reason for that is i am constantly applying for a visas, but the syrian government is quite unpredictable and restrictive about when it grants visas to foreign journalists. once you are that you cannot operate freely anyway. just to know, we have covered recent events from here in beirut, and through an extensive network of contacts on all sides inside syria, but yes, it has .een an unbelievable week what you need to know to put this in even more perspective is yes, there has been a spike in deaths and civilian casualties. there was a period from last week, monday through friday, there were 230 people killed, mostly civ

iranian targets and syrian air defense syria alone surface to air missiles during these really raid and says it shot down the f. sixteen which crashed in northern israel at the hands of. the syrian political leadership took a decision at the highest level to face decisively any israeli military aircraft over therion in space today syria did what it promised by down in israeli plane and striking at other planes this is clear for syria it is the decisive decision to confront the israeli air force and its careless behavior. both pilots ejected and parachuted to these race side of the border one is critically injured the israeli army spokesman said it was wrong it was behind the launch of the drawing but didn't say whether it was armed or not the iranians have reacted they've said that they are going to stand with syria against any fullish and. by israel the russians have also reacted saying that israel needs to respect syrian the slate state sovereignity also what we're hearing is that the israelis want to send a strong message to the russians to get iran out of the region imran khan al-jazeera westra slim mike hanna has more now on washington's r

welcome to crossfire where all things considered i'm peter lavelle turkey's decision to invade northern syria has foreign policy implications far beyond the middle east what are anchors objectives in syria and the region does it facilitate or hinder of final peace subtle meant to syria's proxy civil war and what is turkey's future in nato. across talking turkey and syria i'm joined by my guest sami ramadani in london he's a contributor on iraq and the middle east for the guardian as well as a senior lecturer in sociology in oxford we have dan glazebrook he is an independent political analyst and author of divide in ruin the west imperial strategy in the age of crisis and this temple we cross to change he is dean of political science is a marmora university all right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want they always appreciate it i change the senate bill let me go to you first here it is very simply what is turkey's aims what its strategic goals in syria over since the incursion into northern syria can you give us you know two or three major points wha

israeli fighter jet by syrian air defense systems eleven turkish soldiers have been killed in northern syria during operation against kurdish fighters two of them died when the helicopter was downed at mia three south of it was the deadliest day of fighting since turkish soldiers began their campaign in a free last month. and the president of the philippines wants of change the constitution and switch to a new form of government to get a tattoo says regions will get more power and help alleviate poverty but critics argue the changes are smokescreen to prolong his rule. at seventy is since the start of mass protests in yemen that led to the end of president ali abdullah saleh is thirty three year rule the uprising created instability leading to a civil war in twenty fifteen that shows no sign of ending reports. anti u.s. slogans are oberst everywhere in yemen's capital sana'a healthy fight is tense gaunt next to a banner that tweets death to the u.s. death to israel. security's tines because of fighting on the outskirts of the capital forces backed by saudi led coalition are on the offensive

thank you after the break nature of war with itself is jokey deploy more troops to northern syria we have both sides of the story all the more. going on. at the moment we've had the period of fake the flame. engineered by all the central banks and that they don't have the control that they think that they have and once you start to see this being picked up in markets like the gold market and others you know you've got to start to see it feed on itself in a big way. welcome bagus turkey denies pentagon claims of or arguably the nato civil war in northern syria what exactly is going on and why does tourism is government to factors of water tax on those allied to washington and moscow joining me now is michelle hours and the women's representative of the kurdish national congress thanks so much for coming back on so nothing really in the mainstream media of major nations about this what is the situation in africa human rights watch saying three attacks in january killed twenty six including many children. the numbers are getting is much higher now that on the ground it's over two hundre

a turkish military helicopter has been shot down in northern syria during an operation against kurdish fighters to turkish soldiers on board were killed and south korean president lungi and has received a rare invitation to visit pyongyang from north korea's leader kim jong un. and the air of detente between the koreas extended to the sporting arena as north and south korea play together in a united team for the first time at the olympic games and while the women's hockey team thrashed a nail by switzerland it cajun was still seen as being about more than just for the weddings explains from challenge chen. after the political for an historic match on the ice a unified korea for now at least via women's ice hockey a remarkable event watched by south korean president move jane alongside kimya jong sr of north korean leader kim jong il and some south koreans particularly younger generations were critical of this sudden union between north and south preceded by the nations providing together at friday's opening ceremony said it would harm the host nation's medal hopes but others including