who do we want to run syria? the russian position of we want assad has the virtue of being very simple and the virtue of being the existing government. it's a lot easier to support a government that exists than to try to create one from whole cloth. they're there making sure the capital doesn't fall, training and equipping, bombing. no indication of ground troops into the fight. aso you can kind of see that obviously while the purposes are different, the tactics are not that dissimilar. >> but john bradsaw, if assad was the proximate cause of the syrian civil war, how do you have a country run by him? where do his enemies go? >> well, i think assad may be part of a transitional solution and the russians have said they want to see him remain in power but in the long run if there are some remnants of his regime and assad himself is gone, that might be something that could be negotiated. as far as what putin and the russians are doing militarily, i think president obama has been widely cautious about getting too inv

>> reporter: josh, back to syria. what is the president's strategy regarding syria right now?> well, john, first and foremost the president's top priority when it comes to syria is making sure the national security interests of the united states are protected and that has involved the use of military force by the united states against extremists operating inside of syria. so you've seen recent announcements from the pentagon about haji mutazz who's a leading isil operational figure who was killed in a u.s. military air strike inside of syria last month. the department of defense reported earlier this month that a u.s. air strike in syria over the summer led to the death of david dujon, an extremist not affiliated with isil but actively engaged in leading efforts to strike the united states and the west and we've talked quite a bit about the u.s. military operation the president ordered inside of syria against abu siayyaf. there are a list of other extremists we can go through but that's the top priority. the sect priority has been the effort made by the united states and our c

in iraq and supporting assad in syria. now russia, a strong syrian ally during the cold war is back in the fight on the side of assad. we'll look at russia jumping into this fight with a report of al jazeera's jamie mcintire. >> ray, there last always been russian military presence in syria but in the last few weeks, the u.s. has been monitoring a steady influx of men and materiel. this week, it is saying that russia is building a forward air base in latakia in syria. you can't hide it, the number of cacargo and ships bringing supplies into syria. senator john mccain i says it is one more case when russia is out stepping the u.s. >> caution as weakness, taking advantage. according to media reports putin has deployed strike aircraft, t-90 tanks, howitzers, armed personnel carriers russian marines and housing for up to 1500 military personnel in bases in western syria. >> surveillance shows lots of construction, new runways being built, heli-pads a few helicopter gun ships but no strike aircraft yet. christine warmouth says

syria? general austin: sir, it will take years. if i may -- senator kaine: -- senator mccain: years. general austin: if i may speak to the chairman's comments. we did talk about this issue. when i went back and took a look at what he said, he also said, isil's future is increasingly dim as more tions join the anti-isil effort. although it is practically stalemated with no dramatic gains on either side, isil will move at the speed of its governance, not at the speed of its military capability. and i agree with the chairman, sir, on the issue of there haven't been any dramatic gains on either side. senator mccain: dramatic. that's different than tactically stalemated, general. that's what chairman dempsey and chairman dunford said. so there's clearly a disconnect between your view and that of our outgoing and incoming chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. really in your view, everything should remain as it is. for example, do you think we should have a no-fly zone in syria? eneral austin: tha

it is a very large number. >> that would be from syria question mark. >> that would be from syria and iraq. there are more than 1 million refugees in turkey right now. hundreds of thousands if not 1 million refugees in jordan. the neighboring countries are already hosting large numbers of and if there be a concern of military and our desire not to do more harm than good and what we provide. at the same time our expectation is weird doing operations throughout the area. we don't want to get into areas where we will cause more damage. right now we are challenged because you do not have the observers that would make it more efficient than what it is today. can you share what you are doing to try to improve that situation and how you would like to see that handled? >> we routinely use our intelligence, surveillance, assets, manned aircraft to make sure we understand what is going on the ground before we employ weapons. we are diligent in our efforts there. not overly cautious to the point where we can't take advantage of opportunities to engage the enemy. we are mindful of the possibility

they are operating in syria. >> more now than ever. >> and they have interests in syria. be fair to the russians on that. but at the same time, now more than ever, it is urgent to talk to our allies in the region, especially countries like turkey, saudi arabia, the saudi foreign minister yesterday said bashar cannot stay. if he will not go, we will send in more military assistance. so he's talking about escalating. maybe in the end, that you do need to have a little more escalation in order to get to the negotiation i was just talking about. but it certainly behooves the united states to re-establish strong lines of communication with our allies as we go forward and this gets more complicated. i'd like to make one other point. what the russians have done is also energize the international jihadi. right before i came into your studios, i was on twitter looking at tweets that are coming in around the world. boy, you see the word "jihad" more than i saw it two days ago, three days ago. >> inspired. >> and that makes getting to a settlement even harder because it's not just a

amy: how to deal with syria. that is the center of discussion between president barack obama the u.n.mir putin as generalissimo continues in new york. we will discuss the latest with vijay prashad. and as narendra modi concludes his visit, the continued practice of caste violence. we was equipped ruth manorama, winner of the 2006 right livelihood award. ledinuation of the practice to ever present violations of human rights. despite legal prohibitions, the -- itution amy: all of that and more coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. president obama and russian president vladimir putin held their first formal meeting in two years last night in new york. during the 90-minute meeting, the presidents agreed that their armed forces should hold talks to avoid coming into conflict in syria where fighting has killed over 200,000 people and displaced millions. in recent weeks russia has , reached a new intelligence-sharing agreement with iraq, iran and syria in the

and group to the branch in syria.revolution inside all of the opposition to russia is -- we can fight them. consider bash schad al-assad except that the army to give back all the country. but i don't think that putin wants to involve this army in a new afghanistan. i think that the russian world is to protect the coastal region and to act bar shall al-assad in keeping syria -- but not to get back all syria because i think -- i don't think -- because of the problem. so, i have most of the -- nothing in syria, the sunni population is two-thirds of the population. slight difference. you also kurdish about -- [inaudible] -- [inaudible] christian and other on the best, and all syria is sunni. so, is one percent russian troops inside syria, find people to stop him, i don't think kurdish want to -- why not. but in the arab population they will not find anybody to support them. [inaudible] syrian army. -- because assad is controlling west part of syria because in this area they are the minorities. should be the next target of

we need a syria free of isil an.oint i am making, assad is one of the recruiting sergeants for isil. because of what he has done to his people, that is one of the reasons people are flocking to isil to fight for isil. so that method that some put forward wouldn't work. we need a syria free of both. >> do you believe president putin when he says that he is involved in syria because he wants to help take out isil? >> i think putin understands that islamist extremist terrorism is against russia's president just as america's interest or britain's interest. he knows that is a threat to him. he has been up to now willing to work with assad. we need to convince him that actually the only way you will have a syria free of isil is to have a replacement of assad. that's what we need these intensive talks and discussions about. meeting between obama and putin last night was important. but we need much more of that to try to build some sort of shared understanding. that's why i met the iranian president yesterday. >> prepared to

military leave syria warning strikes were beginning. they claim they are hitting isis targets but our sources at the pentagon they that is not true. here with us today is harris faulkner, sandra smith, melissa francis and our one lucky guy is former u.n.ambassador, john bolton. >> glad to be here. >> on a busy news day. so let's get right to. russia's defense ministry is saying their jets are carrying out airstrikes on isis. but the problem is the towns where russian bombings are re reining down don't have an isis presence but are home to the free syrian army, allies to bashar al-assad. senator john mccain didn't hold back on the senate floor moment moments ago. >> it was one year ago when the president said our strategy is to degrade and destroy isis. a report yesterday, 28,000 european and some american had come into the fight on the side of isis. mosul and ramadi remain in the hands of isis and of course the continued advances of isis in syria are well known. in short, a year ago after the president made that statement. there is no s

if we were able to attack isil across its theater of operation from northern syria through eastern syria into iraq, it is possible to defeat isil in that theater. theater. as a separate issue from the broader serious civil war. >> can you paint that scenario for us? >> the -- obviously we already talked about the possibility of coalition airstrikes in the uk perhaps deciding to join coalition airstrikes in syria. we will only defeat isil and in a rack when there is a ground force that is then called to inflict serious damage on the, and it is possible to envision a situation without pursuit and destruction would go on into syria. i'm not saying it's the ideal situation or the most likely. i don't think it is a necessary condition of destroying isil syria. >> yesterday from some of the country's most distinguished academics and journalists who follow this. their conclusion was they won't be defeated, share our priority. and was the coalition uses its airpower to contain and restrain isil is able to focus on other national priorities. so isn't the coalition, western powers from our policy

. >>> a very serious turn of events in syria. the russians now conducting air strikes, reportedly attacking the syrian dictator's enemy and telling the united states forces to get out of the way. the russians claim the strikes are aimed at the islamic state. but the evidence suggests that is not true. >> it does appear that they were in areas where there probably were not isil forces. >> and analysts insist now this could get very bad very quickly. ahead, we'll take you to the pentagon and to the white house where the administration claims vladimir putin's actually in a weak position here. it's complicated, we'll explain it. there's a lot of news, including hurricane joaquin. it's expected to intensify into a major storm and could be headed for the east coast. so let's get to it. >> breaking news, "shepard smith reporting" live from the fox news deck. >> good afternoon. late-breaking developments across many stories, the most important of which is this, the dramatic and disturbing development in the civil war in syria. russia tod

you will hear that, and also, more on syria launching air strikes within syria coming up.or the millions of americans suffering from ringing in their ears, there's no such thing as quiet time. but you can quiet the ringing with lipo-flavonoid, the number-one doctor-recommended brand. relieve the ringing with lipo-flavonoid. digestive core.r so choose ultimate flora by renewlife. it has 30 billion probiotic cultures. feel lighter and more energized. ultimate flora. more power to your gut. >>> there's other break news that we are following here. a story first played out at the united nations a while ago despite objections from the united states and israel the palestinian flag was raised outside of the u.n. headquarters in new york. and the palestinians see it as a presence in the international are arena. >> translator: the question of palestine was one of the first just comments made within the united nation, and yet regrettably this issue has remained unsolved. as the organization and its members continue to be unable to end this injustice inflicted upon our people, a nd to

secretary, back to syria.as the secretary of defense, were you notified in advance that russia was conducting air strikes in syria? did you have the intelligence that the russians are moving towards that target? >> well, we've been watching their -- i think it's been widely reported -- deployment of aircraft. certainly both in the conversations with our president and our secretary of state and in my conversations with minist minist minister shoi gu, they indicated a desire and intention to conduct operations. and you heard about a communication this very morning about the specific activities that happened today. so that's the way that we have learned. >> quick follow-up. >> thank you, mr. secretary. back to the deconfliction issue, is it equally important now that we inform the russians when we're conducting air strikes over syria, for instance, i understand we conducted air strikes over aleppo today. did we tell them? does that go both ways? >> let's see what aconvenievent from these conversations. the type o

can there be a working relationship on syria? >> well, they started that meeting tonight with a handshake so that's pretty cordial and then they went and got down to business. the question really is whether the crisis in syria is now so grave and the effects it's had are so extreme, both in terms of encouraging the riles of the islamic state within syria and forming this refugee migration crisis, which is engulfing jordan, spilling over in turkey. refugees on the door stems of european countries. a tremendous thing with europe figuring out how to deal with it. everyone you talk to says there has to be a solution for seara because they're creating these areas of extremism but what the common ground is between russia and the united states is not immediately clear at this point but maybe there's a way to finesse the transition of president assad but whether he will agree to discuss a future without him when he is -- has so clearly been bedding down for the long haul is very unclear. but this jane, is diplomacy in action. jane: how a

but i don't think it is a necessary condition of destroying isil in syria, the civil war in syria. >> yesterday we took evidence from some of the country's most distinction wish the academics and journalists who have followed this crisis. their conclusion was that isil won't be defeated until turkey, iran, saudi arabia share in power and its defeat. it enables those states to focus on other national priorities. so isn't the coalition's, more particularly the united states and the united kingdom perhaps, and canada, the western powers, isn't our policy, and our action, having the unintended consequence of relieving those key powers of the need to cooperate in order to prioritize and enable isil's defeat? >> well, i think i've already made reference to the fact that the complexity in syria is the three external powers most directly involved and most influential have complex agendas, and they, in some cases, internally conflicting agendas, and that is what mayke the problem in syria so difficult to tackle. i agree with you that having turkey, iran and russia pursuing separate agendas and

syria is of course amongst the major ones, but it's not only syria. it's the crisis across north africa where we have instability in libya and elsewhere. that's contributing to it. it's also an economic crisis of people leaving deprivation and suffering to have better lives. the causes of migration are complex. terrorism will be another theme. it always is. it has been since the late 1990's for obvious reasons. >> in particular isil this time. >> yes and no. i mean, isil, you have to remember, even in the syrian context, the syrian regime is responsible for far more deaths than isil itself. isil has become this kind of owe over. >> it's the hot button issue, but you're saying not necessarily deservedly so, that there are other issues. >> it deserves enormous attention. i mean, it's a very frightening and worrying phenomenon causing instability and syria, iraq and potentially beyond. the origins life with the regime and the regime is responsible for far more deaths than isil. until there is solution to what happens to the regime and transition to a bet

the massive flow of efugees from syria have any affect on what you think we should be doing in syria? want to be clear. i believe that this is a horrible horrible tragedy and this is a thing that the entire international community is going to have to continue to work there's on and so, always -- we would hope that as refugeees continue to be disadvantaged, that we see more joining in to assist -- would not you support a policy that would s from these refugee being slaughtered by these barrel bombs? our best lways in interest to protect civils. not recommend a buffer zone at this point in time. mr. mccain: so, everything is going well then? the chairman of the joint chiefs tacticically it's stalemated and you think verything is going well, pursuing the strategy and tactics on the ground that we re, general austin, i respectfully disagree. respectfully, fundamentally disagree. this is an object failure. refugees are a result of it. his is a result of leaving iraq. you were there when they told enator graham told us he would agree to keep a residial force never gave him the forces. creat

what's going on in syria? >> it's a completely muddled message, coming from the pentagon, briefing room today on such an important day when the pentagon, white house and state department were completely caught off guard. i know, because i was woken up at 4:15 in the morning with a source describing the demarche to me and this three-star general coming into the embassy and basically telling them to get out of their way. so the u.s. military is in a terrible bind right now. they have to continue airstrikes over syria. they have as to make sure they don't run into russian warplanes. we know there has only been one airstrike by u.s. warplanes in aleppo. that's fewer than usual i would point out. the same. others say the airstrikes would continue a. very muddled message from the defense secretary at the pentagon today. he says they will keep talking. he trusts the russians, and the russians, that there is an internal contradiction in the russian actions. putin is laughing right now. >> thank you so much for your br

this is opening up another unfortunate chapter in syria. this is making it more difficult and risky for our military types operating. we cannot outsource getting rid of isis to the russians. this is a huge problem. >> in the immediate, what is our next move? >> i think we have to push back against russia and let them know we are going to pursue our national interest which includes dealing with the islamic state and al-qaeda. what we really want to do is deconflict air operations but i am concerned as you recall, jenna, we had reporting saying that russia had sent in surface-to-air missiles and they also, some of the fighter a aircraft is said to be air superiority fighters so there is a concern we could mix it up with the russians and endanger our pilots there. i don't think we have finalized our relationship with russia in syria as of today. there is going to have to be low, mid and high level talk quite talks with russia about how to bring this about to support and advance american interest. this is not good news. >> what is the goal of t

not just in syria but in ukraine. the most important statement in the speech for president putin, he said we cannot accept an international system based on american hegemony, never. this tells me a great deal how he views the world. >> are the russians as committed to assad's permanent survival in syria as they perhaps were, have been in the past? is there some room to maneuver there? >> russia has been supporting assad for more than four years. without russian support assad would not have survived. now between assad and syria, whether you have 200 or 2,000, the fact is russia says we're here to stay, no one can intervene to topple assad. >> things regime can't fine withousphiervesurvivewithout as. >> syria is not important for russia, syria is a bargaining card against the americans. putin basically is using syria vis-a-vis ukraine. the americans keep saying we're going to talk to putin about ukraine, russians say no no, ukraine is over, we're going to talk about syria. that tells you the difference in agendas of bot

syria? general austin: sir, it will take years. if i may -- senator mccain: years. ok. general austin: if i may comment on the chairman's comments. as i spoke to the chairman yesterday, and we did talk about this issue. when i went back and took a look at what he said, he also said, isil's future is increasingly dim as more nations join the anti-isil effort. although it is practically stalemated with no dramatic gains on either side, isil will move at the speed of its governance, not at the speed of its military capability. and i agree with the chairman, sir, on the issue of there haven't been any dramatic gains on either side. ccain: dramatic. that's different than from, quote, tactically stalemated, please, general. that's what chairman dempsey and chairman dunford said. exactly the same thing. so there's clearly a disconnect between your view and that of our outgoing and incoming chairman of the joint chiefs of staff. really in your view, everything should remain as it is.ccain: d that's

personnel to leave syria.e then, the public statements by the defense secretary here at the pentagon is that we will keep talking to the russians. that's the message being put out. there are no consequences that are being threatened at this point there are no sanctions being talked about. there are no -- the, i feel that from reading the tea leaves here and at the state department and the white house briefing today, they feel that they don't have a lot of options left in syria. and in iraq frankly. they realized that the russians are fact on the ground. so they have to talk to them. back to you. >> awaiting u.s. secretary of state john kerry and russian foreign minister lavrov. we expect them to be speaking momentarily. we're going to take a quick break and we'll be right back. my name is mark amann. i'm a gas service rep for pg&e in san jose. as a gas service rep we are basically the ambassador of the company. we make the most contact with the customers on a daily basis. i work hand-in-hand with crews to make

it requires a political solution to the crisis of syria. one thing is certain, the vast ma jor ma jor i -- majority of states around this table know that the isil force, isil, itself, cannot be defeated as long as a bashar al assad remains president of syria. it cannot happen by e definition of the lines of the battle. it cannot happen because of who has lined up with whom, and because of the nature of these protagonists. and the reason for that is defined in the beginning by how this fight, itself, began. this fight began when young people, young syrians looking for a future wanting nothing more than opportunity and jobs and education, when they went out to demonstrate for the future, and to claim the aspirations of young people, and assad sent his thugs out to beat them up. the parents were outraged by the fact that their children demonstrating peacefully were beaten up, and they went out with their kids, and they were met with bullets. that is how this whole thing began. people in the country looking for a future who were instead met wit

this is home to a big city in syria. 1.5 million people. picture is on the right what it looked like in 2014. and the opposition is strong. and you know, it is interesting to look at that picture. and secretary russia said they are not going after isis. they are continuing to bomb the opposition of assad. what is our next move, marvin, what doe do? >> the next move is very much up in the air and i bet the president doesn't have a clear sense of what the u.s. should be doing. it is interesting that the russians went after homes first. homes is not controlled by the islamic state. it is it controlled by political opponents of president assad. you have proof what putin really wants is to knock out political opposition and facing assad so that assad stays in power. putin is terrified about mass uprisings against leaders and thinks of those demonstrations in moscow demonstrating against him. and he doesn't want that. he created a soviet style russia and it is interesting the way he manipulates power. >> i can't resist asking you this question. h

isis was not in syria. and we were trying to work with the russians for a political transition back then. that we failed back then has led to this mess now. and part of that, part of the responsibility of that is putin, simply doubling down, supporting assad. it hasn't worked for four years. and up to this point. and i don't think it's going to work in the future. >> michael mcfaul, former u.s. am bar baambassador to the russn relations. thomas roberts, we'll turn it back over to you. >> thank you very much. we're also going to dig into what is the military investment of russia in syria? specifically talking about the naval port city of tartus. we'll take you there and show y exactly what that is. we'll have much more when msnbc continues. ♪ the way i see it, you have two choices; the easy way or the hard way. you could choose a card that limits where you earn bonus cash back. or, you could make things easier on yourself. that's right, the quicksilver card from capital one. with quicksilver you earn unlimit

but to countries bordering syria including israel. but israel is not allowing refugees fleeing the conflict to remain in the country. danny ayalla, served as israel's ambassador to the united states from 2002 to 2006. he said arab states are the only solution to the syrian refugee crisis not israel. this despite calls from some israeli leaders and palestinian leaders to take in refugees. danny ayalla joins us from tel aviv, thank you for joining us. cannot escape this refugee crisis, your country assists syrians in dire need of help, why stop there, why not heed calls from some israeli leaders and palestinian leaders to actually take in these desperate refugees? >> ali, the short answer to your question is israel is very, very small both in size and the population. when we can, we accept as many wounded people, anybody who really needs critical help. and we have committed more than two hospitals, there are more than a thousand refugees from syria who came over, injured, and they're being taken care of. and we will continue to do that.

they want to get out of syria, new matter how hard things are in europe, it is still better than in syria. he fled from a talent under the control of islamic state militants. he believes the war could last decade, so he has no choice but to flee. these images are just from a few days ago. the roebel held part of the city is in ruins. the regime continues to attack civilians with barrel bongs. mbs. those who unable to go abroad have shot refuge near the turkish border. >> grenades landed five meters from our house, they got we survived. >> turkey has closed its border to refugees. many syrians already there wants to leave the country, saying they only get poorly paid jobs, and their children left a proper education. now they are hoping to start a new life in europe. brent: four years russia and the united states have been at loggerheads over syria. that could be changing. the defense chiefs of both countries folk on friday. the first time in more than a year. they are now willing to work together to address the conflict. the announcement came after weeks of increasing tensions, only days a

in syria. russia states an intent to fight isil on one hand, and to support bashar al-assad and his regime on the other. fighting isil without pursuing a parallel political transition only risks escalating the civil war in syria, and with it the very extremism and instability that moscow claims to be concerned about and aspires to fighting. so this approach, that approach is tantamount, as i said then, to pouring gas lea gasoline on the fire. in contrast our position is clear, that a lasting defeat of isil, an extremism in syria, can only be achieved in parallel with the political transition in syria. we will continue to insist on the importance of simultaneously pursuing these two objectives. i would hope that russia would join us in pursuing these objectives, which they claim to share in parallel rather than in sequence that cannot be succeed. during my phone call with the minister, i was prepared to send the dod team at a location to be agreed upon to be sure we avoid any inadvertent inciden

mussa said, prior to the crisis in syria syria used to host more than 2 million refugees from iraq and other places. so i think this fear mongering that mr. hansen is talking is totally unfounded. we have, i will say this again and again, we have the most vetted people to come to this country our refugees. we have an incredible history of refugees. my agencies founded the 1911 is not a contractor. the federal government came to refugee program in 1980. prior to that we actually resettled over 38,000 hungarians in 1956 without the government help. so this idea that the catholic charity uscri and other agents are government contractor and they care about, is totally bogus and i can tell you that the refugee program in this country is a community partnership program. every refuging settled in this country is settled in a community supported by the community the government involvement in terms of their contribution to the refugee program is compared to what the community provides, probably 10%. >> skinder nagash, dr. mussa and jim hanson, this conversation must continue because this proble

combat operations in syria. the infantry, the motorized troops. >> rose: what else is going to be required? because i come back to the problem that many people look at. they believe that assad helps isis. that his reprehensible conduct against the syrian people using barrel bombs and worse, is a recruiting tool for isis. and that he was removed, transitioned at some point. it would be better in the fight against isis, al nusra and others. >> i can tell you this is an active measure by enemies of assad that is anti-syrian propaganda. there's nothing in common between assad and ice ill. they have nothing in common. they're fighting each other. assad and his army is indeed the only force fighting isil. >> rose: but there were reports earlier in the year that you were presented or you -- prepared or you seem to be pulling back your support from him and what you wanted to see was a negotiated political transition. >> we will we think issues of political nature in any can you tell country including sear jaw must be de

he will take the bodies back to their hometown of kobani and syria.hree-year-old washed up on a turkish beach on wednesday morning, his five-year-old brother and mother also drown along with 15 others on two boats. >> translator: we went into the sea for four minutes then the captain saw the waves were so high that he steered the boat and we were hit immediately. he panicked and dove in the sea and i took over and started steering and the boat flipped and i took my wife and kids in my arms and i realized they were all dead thousands who transit know the risks and men, women and children from syria, pakistan, afghanistan and elsewhere wait for a chance to sale to europe. sail to europe and give them a right to work if they want it but feel europe offers better opportunities. mohamed paid $1200 to be smuggled from here to a greek island. >> translator: there is no work. we don't have enough money and planning to go to germany from greece, there is work and life there. i couldn't find any work here. the house rental in turkey, they are asking for $350-$7

that's syria. what about iraq?>> with isis in iraq, you got to knock them out. >> how do you do that? >> fight them. you have to fight them. >> on the ground? >> if you need, tough do that, yes. >> so what do you make of that, senator? do you think that's a strategy that we could consider? >> i think the problem with his analysis is ignoring what brought isis into existence in the first place which is assad and the fact that assad is as i say killing his own people. driving half the population of syria into external or internal exile and so to say, oh yeah, let's just turn the syria anti-isil operation over to russia would cement assad into place which would only further the conflict and, you know, i'm not sure russia would have any better luck in syria trying to pull that off than they did in afghanistan 25 or 30 years ago. so i don't -- i do think there's a place for a relationship with russia because we do have a common interest. they're worried about the rise of isis. they're worried about terrorists and jihadi

care about syria. it's a piece in the game, it's not the game. >> the study of emerging threats at new york university representative speaks to us. >> the relationship in the west and at the moment, it is entirely dominated by ukraine. >> efforts to broker a peace deal in ukraine have ground to a standstill while western sanctions have hammered the economy at a price when prices for oil plummeted. putin could lay the groundwork for a face saving exit from ukraine. >> he's looking for something in the deal, something in return for being helpful over islamic state that somehow we will perhaps help him pull himself out of what is becoming an increasingly uncomfortable conflict. >> it's unclear whether obama wants to or can cut a deal at the meeting. no matter the outcome, putin has shown that r.b.i. is one power the west cannot shut out. patricia sobga, al jazeera at the united nations. >> ran's president is among those slated to address the u.n. general assembly today. rouhani will head home to take part

but i don't think it is a necessary condition of destroying isil in syria, the civil war in syria. >> yesterday we took evidence from some country's most distinguished academics and journalists who have followed this crisis. their confusion was isil won't be defeated until turkey, iran, saudi arabia hair in its power. it enables those states to focus other national priorities. in canada and the western powers. isn't our policy is and our action having the unsuspended consequence of relieving those of the need to cooperate in order to prioritize and enable isil's defeat? >> i already made reference to the fact that the complexity is the three external powers most directly involved and most influential have complex agenda. they in some cases are internally conflicting agendas. that is what makes the problem in syria so difficult to tackle. so i agree with you having turkey, iran, and russia pursuing separate agenda and in the case of turkey a shifting agenda makes it very difficult to move towards a point where we have a clear response to the clear agreed approach to moving forward in r

we need a syria free of both. >> do you believe president putin when he says that he is involved in syria because he wants to help take out isil? >> i think putin understands that islamist extremist terrorism is against russia's president just as america's interest or britain's interest. he knows that is a threat to him. he has been up to now willing to work with assad. we need to convince him that actually the only way you will have a syria free of isil is to have a replacement of assad. that's what we need these intensive talks and discussions about. meeting between obama and putin last night was important. but we need much more of that to try to build some sort of shared understanding. that's why i met the iranian president yesterday. >> prepared to work with russia and iran in the battle against isis in syria? >> i will work with anybody to build syria free of assad and isil. no british prime minister met the iranian president for 35 years until our meeting last year and met him again yesterday. now, we're miles apart at the moment. we need to try to build that understanding that fund

syria. talking to syrians in america about the horrors back home. >> we are disappointed, very. >> reporter: zahir al watter is giving up on the u.s. government. we first met this syrian american in 2013, trying to find solas in his ohio garden, between frustrating calls to the u.s. state department. >> this is zahir al watter, and i'm an american from syria, and i would like to get my brother and his family from syria to here. >> for weeks, he made the same plea, trying to rescue his family. >> i am in need of your help, so please give me a call back. thank you very much. >> reporter: now, two years later, after failing to get any help from the federal government, his sister is among the dead refugees. she perished trying to escape syria with her two children. like thousands of others, she paid a smuggler to help them across the sea, hoping to reach sweden. >> once they got to the first island, my sister was getting really sick, and once they hit the land, on the way to the hospital she pas

we have to save syria. the world has to save syria.he entire region globally. as we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the u.n. it's a good moment to rekindle our efforts to make multilateralism work again and i'm proud to say in the iran agreement we did show it can work. a lot of those -- in fact all of those same players are in one way or another invested in and at the table in this effort including china who would like to help. >> you don't think it's too late to save syria? >> no, i really don't, richard. i met with a number of refugees in berlin the other day. i was struck by how educated, intelligent and patriotic they are. they want to go back. they love their country. and there's so many of them still in jordan in refugee camps, in lebanon and in turkey that if you could create the climate within which they could begin to come back i believe there is such a history of secularism within syria, even tolerance within syria that if we can deal with isil, yes. that's the key. and with isil there, not a chance. and the eastern part -

former american ambassador to syria with us.ou're watching "andrea mitchell reports" on msnbc. i am totally blind. and sometimes i struggle to sleep at night, and stay awake during the day. this is called non-24. learn more by calling 844-824-2424. or visit your24info.com. prge! a manufacturer. well that's why i dug this out for you. it's your grandpappy's hammer and he would have wanted you to have it. it meant a lot to him... yes, ge makes powerful machines. but i'll be writing the code that will allow those machines to share information with each other. i'll be changing the way the world works. (interrupting) you can't pick it up, can you? go ahead. he can't lift the hammer. it's okay though! you're going to change the world. >>> ambassador robert ford was our last ambassador to syria from 2011 to 2014 and joins me now. ambassador ford, thank you for being with us. this is a remarkable day. today russia is launching air strikes and we are told against homs. and these are not strikes against isis as russia claims, these are st

a safe haven for itself in syria. indeed i believe the unit new york times documented a whole series of transaction between isil and the syrian regime. all the assessments show that in terms of the attraction of jihad ease, the ongoing tactics that he pursued in trying to retain power, arresting protesters or anybody suspected of dissent and then the mass torture that has occurred in syrian prison, these, as my british colleague said yesterday, every barrel bomb that syria and assad drop is a gift to isil. so we have made clear from the beginning that it is going to require a robust coalition to defeat isil. the idea that doubling down on the assad approach to counter insurgency, namely to treat isil and moderates and civilians and hospitals as equally worthy targets, that is a difficult approach. our shared interest is an interest that we share with russia and that is degrading and defeating isil. the approach of of supporting a regime that has helped fuel the rise of isil, that is a misguided approach and it's not t