want to influence in syria and the don't want by syria but want. to go and syria seems a very rich. region you know of oil. and natural the we we saw and. you know of the fighting there around. all the resources i knew way syria one. in that area and cape it's not much. and there is a. want of it's a part of the city and what i thought stay in the regime or not. russia but isn't a large part of the syrian. people. want not. to moscow and protect its interests and what what russia want ok well let me give the last word to joshua landis in a wrestle and josh i want to come back to the current situation in syria today this civil war is now entering its seventh year we've seen in the last forty eight hours more than one hundred people killed in italy been eastern ghouta civilians really bearing the brunt of this conflict the humanitarian situation is disastrous as the u.n. has said. where does this all leave this current escalation where does this leave peace efforts whether it's. whether it's sochi whether it's geneva can maybe a negotiated solution still in syria or is this war only g

and democratic solution of what syria and now for the syria and i mean what we are looking for is just the syrian government to protect the surgery's who are syria i mean that's all. we are about we are not going to return back to the all voices region as it was before and depressing and that russia looking for the solution and. already i mean that a lot with. government forces is just to protect the civilians of the syrian territory joshua landis do you buy that that this will more than a dialogue and if that dialogue actually has in-built guarantees it may actually succeed. yes i agree with that i'd like to correct one thing you said which is that the syrian regime is not gone at the at isis of course the syrian regime has has fought isis for a long time and took half the territory the kurds took one happy territory without the and much united states and the syrian army took the other half of the help of iran so there is going to long war going on between the syrian government and isis but to your question up a team this there is still some disagreement between the syrian government

syria we are part of syria we never tried to divide syria and rearm up to trying to establish something else all we want is democratic syria but the i mean the sudan government is not doing their duties i mean their mission to protect the syrian territory would never thought of dividing syria or anything else so what we are doing i mean in and often in the other places we have been attacked in our home so we are defending yourselves it's uses just self-defense is nothing else i mean underwood will never return to the back to buses through dream as it was before two thousand and eleven gentlemen we will have to leave it there thank you to all our guests today met but you can sell a muslim. it joshua landis and thank you for your company you can see the program again any time via the website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion to check out our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter at a.j. inside story for me peace adobe and the entire team thanks for watching. monitor the truck quantified i'm valued da

because it downs the drone allegedly flying over syria by bombing syria and it's bomb syria repeatedly and by using iran as a scapegoat is just like with apartheid south africa did with regards to the a.n.c. they blame the russians the soviet union the communists in order to subjugate africans in the west supported ok you know if we look if you try to look at the next step forward mr bono work this is the political reality in syria a weakened president bashar assad but with the backing from iran and syria russia is bad as you know to reverse some of the gains made by the made by the rebels the americans into was in the region is waning so we're left with two key players inside syria iran and russia. is this going to have any kind of impact in the near future about president bashar al assad are we going to see him likely sergei more ground or no i think iran is going to stay in syria. and for once was been established with and mean in lebanon syria up to the sea it actual fact now russia need iran. on especially on tactical level they have differences on a strategic. but the going to be

case then why is israel launching sorties an s strikes over syria. when israel was in effect asked to choose between two evils so two devils sees it the assad regime and dies it indeed shows assad if he's satisfied that i still has been eradicated and that the forces arrayed against him be the russian led coalition or the american led coalition have prevailed but israel also resists the notion that iran is going to have a foothold in syria and to cory door to lebanon against israel so when the iranians violate israeli air space israeli sovereignty by sending a drone into israel israel both should sit down and makes the point of retaliate ing in order to have some impact in the talks about the future of syria israel would not sit idly by if i during such the orange an eva the future is syria is decided upon without bringing into consideration israel's own interests some some might say that israel is perhaps working its own agenda in syria if you jump online and just and just have a look at the information israel has been conducting as sorties over syr

deal between the russians and americans to reduce iranian presence in syria. israel considers russia its guarantor for security along its border with syria they have talked about a buffer zone but israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu has said the ceasefire agreement in southern syria didn't address what he called iranian military ambitions israel has repeatedly said it will not allow iran and its allies to entrench themselves militarily in syria and it won't allow syria to become a forward operating base against israel calls them raw. lines now the syrian government and its allies are introducing red lines of their own they say the downing of the israeli jets is a clear message that the days of carrying out attacks in syria are gone russia allied to both sides is calling for restraint and for syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity to be respected it was a serious and dangerous incident the israeli army said it was not a war but more than a confrontation for now all sides have taken a step back after making their message clear senator beirut for mor

these included delegations from syria's traditional allies iran. and russia. western officials attended as well and established their first contacts with the new president syria had been a key player in the middle east for decades particularly when it came to regional peace negotiations and fighting international terrorism. only one western head of state attended a son's funeral french president. of holes. leaders decided that if they showed syria some respect they might be able to influence its policy on lebanon you know. after assad's older son died french politicians try to figure out how to deal with bashar. he was an ophthalmologist by training but had no experience as a political leader or an unknown quantity. but no one knew whether he would be up to the job that the bulk. of us i know if it. married his wife in two thousand the new president sought to portray himself as a modern western style leader perhaps this reserved and well educated young man would introduce political and economic reforms in syria and increase the country's ties to the west. in p

democratic syria but it any time syria cannot return to the time before two thousand and eleven i mean this political regime must this region is could not be there should be a new syria i mean for the most i think for everybody and we are part of if offering is syrian territory. we know of course that that the kurds are currently governing that area would it be an option for you that the syrian regime would step in and be the administration in that area in exchange with your some sort of deal should be if you are talking of the motor things of course we have a project for that which is syria should be disarmed from the list because now we are talking about sudanese we are talking about the holidays the doozies is a disease the christians muslims. are talking about the the me now two months so have how you can keep all those verses all together should be democratic or otherwise you come up to them if you are talking about the unity of the syrian territory should be all of those should be in democratic system which we are to decentralize syria it means offering and other places not on th

they won't allow iran to entrench itself militarily in syria or make syria who were operating the base. with the israeli prime minister has made that clear he has been to moscow a number of times discussions with the russians and clearly the russians have given them agreed might use syrian airspace there is close coordination and we also can't forget that in the summer of last year when the united states and russia announced a cease fire in syria with south of syria that ceasefire was to appease israel because part of that field was to keep troops in iranian backed troops away from its border so clearly this is a dramatic escalation already there were tensions already israel worried about the iranian princes in syria as an ally for some better would say no thank you not the leader of north korea kim jong il who now has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president moon julian to visit pyongyang it happened on an historic high level meeting between the two sides at the presidential palace in seoul the north korean delegation which includes kim sr is in south korea for the win

hari is an enemy of syria and. puppets of the us and france for the sea. three days later that it was that should. not. explosives equivalent to nearly two tons of t.n.t. were used in the attack twenty two other people were killed in the blast everybody says as a nation sparked international outrage the un security council approved a resolution sponsored by britain france and the us that imposed some new sanctions on syria. cories murder also led to a popular uprising in lebanon this domestic resistance movement combined with international pressure prompted syria to pull its troops out of lebanon in two thousand and six. assad seemed to take these events in stride at least in public. but since his relations with the west now lay in tatters he moved his country closer to iran. and he signed a military cooperation agreement with russia. that assad turned the situation following her reasons sasa nation to his advantage. he purged political and military leaders who'd been appointed by his father and replaced them with his own people. the shadow said that about

exceptional to syria.e have seen this before in places like iraq, palestine, congo, even in myanmar now with the rohingya. what you want -- if you want a sound bite what we are saying is the power over people. it's this is something that will continue -- this is something that will continue in syria and other places as long as government and states are allowed to do what they do. if populationsnd around the world start mobilizing and pressuring their own governments to stop these types of actions -- to not allow power to dominate over people. if we don't do that, we will see the tragedy of syria continue for a long time and you will see other tragedies in other places around the world. that is what is happening. the: i wanted to ask about role of bashar al-assad. many of the western powers calling for regime change to end the civil war -- that has dropped off the table for a lot of them in terms of the ongoing conflict. can you talk about that as well? yeah, of course. i am not surprised they dropped off t

regional autonomy or something like this in syria i think they are just using syria for their interests in turkey if you look for example back to two thousand and fourteen you see that after they fought against the islamic state the so-called islamic state. they became really popular all over the world people said hey this is the only force that can fight the islamic state it's our only allies in syria so because they fought the state. suddenly you seem to be. the only ones who have women's rights for example the only ones who are really. the only ones who are really democrats so they really profited politically in the international community from this fight and this is what they're interested in they're not interested in syrian kurdistan in the end for them it's not important if there was a tone of your something like this they want to profit for their fight intro from what is happening in syria let's look closer at that role in that fight we have a short report on the role that the syrian kurdish fighters played in the fight against us. for months now kurdish fighters have been defend

government is for who pieing a part of syria which is an issue of the north of syria and they are trying to recoup by the house and also and the policies to make demographic changes and so so the priority is to protect the civilians you know syria and this is the months duty to do it now it is their mission and we of course from the beginning i mean from the beginning of the syrian revolution we stated all the time well part of syria we have to protect that syrian territory and. i mean i'm not looking for any separation or any different ways all we are trying to do to get a democratic syria for all the components including the traditionally poor and others mainly they are saying kurdish forces is actually is not kurdish forces democratic syrian forces which include the kurds out of all the components over there in the north of syria and now even the forces are fighting in off limits to all the components they are sharing it is not only the clippers so everybody is sharing to protect their homes their lands and their villages so this is the case and the priority is to protect this territo

i mean could be that the building of syria again so at least building needs money and syria needs the oil guys which is. where the oil fields are situated so it seems that america would like to prevent syria prevent the russian from actually putting their hands on the old reserves as it is so i don't think they will succeed here i have a lot of. information saying that the next stage could be actually a war against american forces in syria and also in iraq so if this happened like what happened after the american your. you know back in two thousand and three i think this would be the of us they think the united states i believe but i sure would than fat going to five it's second five and actually that heavy price which they paid in syria since they're two thousand and fifty and they love it they pay that money let me know with include them anything when we let me jump in we're going to go to a short break and i'd like to point out to everyone since the pentagon can do anything it wants because it has more money than god right now it is no longer a political issue in the united states

action in syria for the support backing for terrorist groups inside syria. it's only conflict has been with the with within syria and recent times as with the kurds of syria they got frightened because the united states backing started backing the y.p. . but truly turkey should also shoulder quite a lot of the response ability for the mayhem. unfolded in both city and in iraq by the way where they still have some forces inside iraq as you out and their policy towards the kurdish people over many decades has been really bad that must be mentioned that the kurdish people have suffered enormously from successive regimes tens of thousands of kurds have died inside turkey and this so-called cleansing inside syria turkey is in effect committing aggression against a sovereign state the syrian state which has objected on the shelly to the entry of turkish troops so there are a dime if you cations here and that is the other point i wanted to raise is out there is some genuine friction between turkey and the united states since the coup attempt last year which seems t

in iraq in syria i know they say that if the government troops get too close to them in syria they're going to self defense soon to attack them and that's good that's a second the next level of. i legal regime change it depends because several buildings were destroyed in the united states back in two thousand and one by the people who were not citizens or syria but who somehow lived in the same region who actually were citizens of a country that is our ally and we just sold them one hundred billion dollars worth of weapons but that's not important what is important is that it opened in two thousand one and now we can kill anyone who gets close to us in syria syrians good . close to the u.s. soldier in syria itself the facts that's like russia moving troops within its own border and it's called a provocation you know where one of the interesting from a media point of view is it any time trump says something he quote unquote lies is that the liberal media like to say this is a perfect example of saying something that has nothing to do with policy but nobody says a word a word it's remar

groups inside syria. its only conflict has been with the with within syria and recent times as with the kurds of syria they got frightened because the united states backing started backing the y.p. . but truly turkey should also shoulder quite a lot of the responsibility for the mayhem that. unfolded in both syria and in iraq by the way where they still have some forces inside iraq as you out and their policy towards the kurdish people over many decades has been really bad that must be mentioned that the kurdish people have suffered enormously from successive regimes tens of thousands of kurds have died inside turkey and this so-called cleansing inside syria turkey is in effect committing aggression against a sovereign state the syrian state which has object to fish only to the entry of turkish troops so there are a dime if you cations here and that is the other point i wanted to raise is out there is some genuine friction between turkey and the united states since the coup attempt which seems to have had

syria and. that and that those extremists they were being supported by u.s. allies in the region and as general michael flynn who was the head of the defense intelligence agency at that time admitted on al jazeera the united states took a willful decision to support those extremists so the united states back then was supporting an attempt to take over the east of syria later on when the tide turned when the tide turned with the help of russia iran hezbollah the iraqis on the volunteers and isis began to lose ground and territory it was only then that the united states change its policy before that the united states was allowing isis to thrive without the right to go on between turkey and isis we know from kerry the secretary of state of the united states in the audio file that he told the syrian opposition people that the united states allowed isis advance on damascus to put pressure on president assad so only when the tide turned to the united states decided to start fighting isis and that was

america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring that isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad continue his brutal treatment against his own people so as to principal liberty of the lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreement is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson peter he stated that the only goal in syria was the defeat of ice or now they've got far more ambitious plans with more of the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying on general mattis said that the united states will stay in syria we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean that's yo

is that he that of syria that's and that's one of the reasons why the way that isis florist is syria without the support that the assad forces initially got from the u.s. from britain some other countries some other allies of the us i says would not have flourished i mean if there had been the illegal invasion of iraq in two thousand and three of course and you know. show that's what you say as you know iran has been gaining more influence you know spread it here july that is why it might be because of one week because it will not be able to speak clearly clear to our viewers if we. it isn't because of what iran is doing or what other actors are doing because well obviously it is other well if it had not been for the us invasion of iraq in one thousand nine hundred one you know if it had not been for the us invasion of iraq in two thousand so we iran would have not been so influential it's a simple as that even the mainstream media it constant attempts to combat what they ludicrously call iranian had gemini where you were just simple the fact that iran has some influence against the

it in syria been a project in syria was completely defeated and russia got the upper hand. to stage i mean it could be that the building of syria game so that lead building needs money and syria needs. the gas which is in eastern of the desert or where the fields are situated so it seems that america would like to prevent syria prevent that i shammed from actually putting their hands on the old reserves as it is so i don't think they will succeed here i have a lot of. information saying that the next stage could be actually i war in their war against american forces in syria and also in iraq so if this happened like what happened after the american occupation of iraq in two thousand and three i think this would be the first stating to united states i believe but i sure wouldn't second if i say it's second feiss and actually that heavy price which they paid in syria since two thousand and fifty and they love it let me tell you they would include the money because when we live in germany we're going to go to a short break and i'd like to point out to everyone since the pentag

legality of the war in syria of the war on the syria and it's done under the two thousand and one two thousand and three authorization of the use of military force for iraq against al qaeda which is still being used by the united states to justify its presence in military conflicts all of the so when this is a justification for endless wars thinking they say that they have the authorization you just move the goalpost as it were and say this is what covers it ok i suppose it will fly to yemen in somalia and only those who are getting it is ok so i mean you know it. it's already a justification and it doesn't matter the circumstances that was done once and it applies the entire region to how this never get to that obama is the person that ramped up the u.s. presence in syria and so the justification was to fight al qaeda then obama comes and he supports an al-qaeda isis springs up out of out of al qaeda and now trumpet his generals and i want to say trump i would say the generals are going to show their you know. you know where i'm going there now using it as an excuse to have u.s. troo

turkey or the syria. the downing of this turkish manufactured attack helicopter that was killed to their soldiers is a significant development in this three week long but military operation it brings the number of christe oldest killed by a z y p g kurdish militia group to over twenty years far as the serbs are concerned they've killed at least one hundred fifty kurdish fighters now some advances have been made on the ground in the past twenty four forty eight hours the free syrian army which is fighting alongside turkish military in order to advance towards the y.p. cipro just from hold of free and i have managed to capture some villages on the road towards there as far as the turkish army is concerned and the listening to president merchant tehran they will respond the same to those who were behind that attack what's important to note here is that although the. kurds are sources in the y.p. ji claim that the turkish military has killed civilians in its operation ankara denies that they say the reason wh

syrians in syria in self-defense. regional experts told us that with islamic state practically gone from syria washington's now targeting the government instead. they are not just in syria to fight there. have been in syria for a long time because they want to throw aside as the spate of feeds as it becomes clear that it is the syrian forces themselves at large would be to die age the priority of overthrowing assad begins to reassert itself in the pentagon and in the white house so i think that's really the answer the question the overthrow of asaad was always the product of prone the reason why the americans were in syria the army in treating these groups intervening with air strikes and so on they were diverted from that by diet know with the possibility of a defeated diet inside syria that policy that reassert itself this is coming at the end of a long war the united states has taken about twenty eight percent of syrian territory and over fifty percent of its oil this is led british in order to roll back the one an

israel says it was provoked a charge denied by syria and iran. and it's really just in flames an angry reaction from the army and two very different versions of what happened early saturday morning. the key question didn't iranian surveillance drones stray into israeli territory from a base in syria triggering a deadly response from israeli fighter jets syria says its allies drone was near the israeli border on a standard intelligence mission but israel disagrees it has released this unverified video which it says shows the drone in israeli airspace next they say it followed the drone across the syrian border and shot it down and then launched fighter jets like these to strike the drones base inside syria that triggered a syrian response the regime unleashed its anti-aircraft guns on the israeli fighter planes and it brought down an f. sixteen jet which crashed dramatically into northern israeli countryside the israeli air force says its pilot was seriously wounded after making an emergency exit. israel then responded with another large scale bom

they trained people in syria. they are focused on syria. i do not think this nuance is not of great interest to turkey, but it is important when looking and ypg. at the same time, these operations have not encountered in the military way against turkey. there have not been attacks on turkey from syrian territory. they have not -- they have tried to keep the past few years their senior commanders in syria. so the problem is for the united states is that by denying any somethingen the two, that is necessary for u.s. policy, they make it difficult for the u.s. to acknowledge some of turkey's concern or try to explain why the pyg is not a real threat -- ypg is not a real threat. when we look at them, we see they are operating according to syrian conditions for the situation in syria. >> thank you for that. i should note there is a legal distinction that the united states risks the -- lists the pkk as a terrorist organization. turn to gonul for a minute. it is a state of warfare. , turkey underrent a state of emergency. is the restriction on the

for iranian drones in syria israel says it was provoked but syria and iran deny that thanks for watching c w news more at the top of the hour. they will succeed in defining not succeeding taking the people off the streets because we're tired of this dictatorship. taking the stand global news that matters. made for mine.

conditions of syria. they have autonomy. they make their decisions based on what's good at the moment. they train their people in syria. they are focused on syria so i don't think obviously this nuance is not a prelude to turkey but nonetheless it's important when looking at the ypj. the same time the operations of this organization in syria have not been counter in the military way against turkey. there have been attacks on turkey from syrian territory. they tried to keep over the past few years their commanders in syria. so the problem is for the united states later on is by denying any link and something that's necessary for u.s. policy of makes it difficult for the u.s. to acknowledge some of turkey's concerns and try to explain why the ypj is not a threat not that i would necessarily calm the situation. when we look at the ypj mp y. g. they are operating for the situation in syria. >> thank you for that. there's a legal distinction between the united states lists the pkk in that little nuance. let me

provoked but syria and iran deny that charge.and kim jong un sr has invited south korea's president to a summit in the northern korean capital gains suggest he'd be willing to go if conditions are right it would be the third meeting ever of the two koreas leaders. and thanks for watching you know viewers on my actuator more coming up at the top of the hour. every journey begins with the first and every language with the first word and you can. decode using germany to learn german and why not learn the simple online on your mobile phone free shop do you believe you're learning course because german media see.

putin announced a twenty four hour humanitarian pause in syria's eastern kouta now the image of syria's civil war are always disturbing but tonight they warrant an extra warning due to their graphic nature including the bodies of children. these are the images that observers claim proof of a chlorine gas attack that is killed at least one child infant still in diapers or among more than a dozen people being treated doctors say their skin and clothes a heavy with the odor of chlorine one of his say a syrian regime war plane dropped bombs carrying the toxic gas on a village in eastern guta on sunday. a cease fire is yet to come into effect despite a resolution passed by the united nations security council on saturday the wounded continue to fill up the districts over run hospitals. there's been ill come whatsoever there hasn't been time to catch our breath the blood is flowing in the hospitals are overflowing with patients and there are no places to evacuate them. but syria's ally russia denies the assad regime is behind the chemical attack foreign minister sergei lavrov says the reports

but syria and iran deny that charge. the washington w. news more coming up at the top of the hour thank you for joining us. you know what special. football made in germany. unimpeded access to education and college and the same opportunities for everyone. a central go.

targets inside syria including an ad defense system. there in germany is making the first visit by an indian prime minister to the palestinian territories a trip to the west bank as part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east. north korea's leader kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president mungy and to visit pyongyang the two countries have been holding talks on the sidelines of the winter olympics in china. turkey's military is establishing a new position in syria's in the province of spot of efforts to expand the so-called deescalation zone the state news agency says troops have been deployed to todd to come on russian forces are expected to position themselves six kilometers outside the town and they want to create a line dividing syrian government forces and opposition fighters to prevent contact rebel held it libya's been the site of intense bombardment and ground fighting in recent weeks. egyptian state media says the country's security readiness has been raised to its highest