qadri jamil is accused of leaving the country without permission from the government.e is believed to have met the u.s. ambassador to syria, robert ford, in geneva to discuss peace talks planned for next month. joining me from london is a professor of middle eastern politics at the london school of economics. good to talk to you. we know jamil was, as our correspondent hoda told us, is a tolerated opponent in the government. does his dismissal reflect the cracks in assad's team. >> i don't think so. i think assad runs a tight ship. i would not be surprised if assad had not known in advance before mr jamil's meeting with the u.s. amdas door robert ford, even though qadri jamil rattled the assad regime by speaking outside the book. he's been a useful voice and a parliamentary for assad as part of the internal opposition. what assad has done by removing qadri jamil now he insists that he is an internal opposition inside syria. he is trying to drive a new position. in many ways it's a win, win strategy for assad. more importantly, what we need to understand is that the mee

qadri jamil is believed to have met the u.s.assador robert ford in geneva. >> many syrians flee the violence. more in the country are in need of help. aid agencies have been unable to get access to most areas. it has not stopped community groups from stepping in. in the suburbs of the capital of damascus, a group is organising activities for children, and giving them trauma counselling. al jazeera spoke to a woman working there. >> translation: life shouldn't stop. we tried to establish a committee for women and children, providing the kids basics of drawing and handicraft. the committee organises exhibitions and educational centres for children who enjoy taking part and click to draw. we were shocked to discover how much the children have been effected by the war in syria. for example, a lot of the kids will draw pictures of cemeteries with the names of their loved ones on the tombstones. they have made boxes for detainees in which the children put bread. they have been shown ways of making bread, cracking firewood and how to w

qadri jamil has been accused of leaving the country without permission, and is believed to have met the.s. ambars door to syria, robert ford in geneva to discuss peace talks. >> in damascus, one community is organising activities for children and giving them trauma counselling. al jazeera has heard from one of the women working there. >> translation: life should not stop. we tried to establish a committee for women and children, providing the basics of drawing and handicrafts. the committee organises exhibitions and educational centres for children who enjoy taking part and like to draw. we were shocked to discover how much the children have been affected by the war in syria. for example, a lot of the kids would draw pictures of cemeteries with the names of their loved ones on the tombstones. they have made boxes for detainees in which the children put bread. they have been shown ways of making bread, cracking firewood and how to properly wash things. we haven't had electricity for about 15 months here. so we do all the activities manually - like weaving wool, for example. women u wool

. >>> welcome to qadri jamil. here are the top stories at this hour. >> the white house continues to answer questions on the problems which plagued the affordable care act website. on wednesday health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius will testify in a house hearing. the administration's first apology for the failures came tuesday from the head of medicare. marilyn tavenner, who said most problems with the site should be fixed by the end of november. >> america's spy chief denies reports the nsa eavesdropped on thousands in france and spain. >> keith alexander says they conduct legal activities and makes no apology. the dire.

. >>> welcome to qadri jamil. here are the top stories at this hour. >> the white house continues to answer questions on the problems which plagued the affordable care act website. on wednesday health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius will testify in a house hearing. the administration's first apology for the failures came tuesday from the head of medicare. marilyn tavenner, who said most problems with the site should be fixed by the end of november. >> america's spy chief denies reports the nsa eavesdropped on thousands in france and spain. >> keith alexander says they conduct legal activities and makes no apology. the director. nsa told a house intelligence committee that he would rather face a public media bashing than give up a program that could stop a terror attack. >> a year after the superstorm sandy in new jersey, more work is needed for rebuilding. $65 billion in damage was caused. the governor and mayor toured the storm-struck region. >> the dow jones hit a high on tuesday. investors are ex