army i've had members of the free syrian army i've had a number of syrians on my show and all of them are crying out for the west to do something about it we're arming them very little it best we're providing things like you know telecommunications equipment and other non-lethal aid i think we should start the no fly zone i think it worked in libya i do not support western troops on the ground but when the people themselves are trying to overthrow their government we need to help the democrats they're not the doc aid and not islam the center city trying to fight for their own samar it worked in libya go ahead did it work in libya. no government certainly didn't work in libya we certainly didn't work in libya as we can see from all the things that have happened in libya in the past few months i think the problem here is that we're creating falls by in areas that don't really apply to the situation on the ground right it's not a situation of the smaller we minority versus the rest of the syrians that's not the case right there are luis who are in the opposition but there are also sunnis

army i've had members of the free syrian army i've had a number of syrians on my show and all of them are crying out for the west to do something about it we're arming them very little it best we're providing things like you know telecommunications equipment and other non-lethal aid i think we should start the no fly zone i think it worked in libya i do not support western troops on the ground but when the people themselves are trying to overthrow their government we need to help the democrats they're not the doc aid and not islam to. try to fight for their own samar it worked in libya go ahead did it work in libya. no government certainly didn't work in libya we certainly didn't work in libya as we can see from all the things that have happened in libya in the past few months i think the problem here is that we're creating false buy in areas that don't really apply to the situation on the ground right it's not a situation of the smaller we minority versus the rest of the syrians that's not the case right there are luis who are in the opposition but there are also sunnis who are with

army i've had members of the free syrian army i've had a number of syrians on my show and all of them are crying out for the west to do something about it we're arming them very little it best we're providing things like you know telecommunications equipment and other non-lethal aid i think we should start the no fly zone i think it worked in libya i do not support western troops on the ground but when the people themselves are trying to overthrow their government we need to help the democrats they're not the doc aid and not islam to our senators and it's trying to fight for their own samar it worked in libya go ahead did it work in libya. no government certainly didn't work in libya we certainly didn't work in libya as we can see from all the things that have happened in libya in the past few months i think the problem here is that we're creating false buy in areas that don't really apply to the situation on the ground right it's not a situation of the smaller we minority versus the rest of the syrians that's not the case right there are luis who are in the opposition but there are a

to cross-talk the syrian crisis i'm joined by joshua landis and norman he is an associate professor and director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma in washington we have rafi shakti she is an english spokesperson for the local coordinating committees in syria and the director of the foundation to restore equality in education in syria and in jerusalem across the he is a former director general of the israeli ministry of foreign affairs and an international relations lecturer at tel aviv university all right folks cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want let's go to joshua in norman joshua what do you make of the israeli air strike against syria and the possibility of more coming very soon well i think it's you know israel is mulling a law and as we say they're taking advantage of this time of weakness and syrian infighting to get rid of large weapons systems perhaps centers of research for both nuclear and chemical weapons they can reset the clock and move syria backwards this is this is been done in two thousand and seven w

to cross-talk the syrian crisis i'm joined by joshua landis to norman he's an associate professor and director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma in washington we have rafi shakti she is an english spokesperson for the local coordinating committees in syria and the director of the foundation to restore equality in education in syria and in jerusalem we crossed he is a former director general of the israeli ministry of foreign affairs and international relations lecturer at tel aviv university all right folks cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want let's go to joshua in norman joshua what do you make of the israeli air strike against syria and the possibility of more coming very soon well i think it's you know israel is moeen a law and as we say they're taking advantage of this time of weakness and syrian infighting to get rid of large weapons systems perhaps centers of research for both nuclear and chemical weapons they can reset the clock and move syria backwards this is this is been done in two thousand and seven with t

syrian army is the only digital omphalism syrian territory so i think it's very unrealistic for the syrian. for a syrian opposition to expect president assad to step down but i suspect that if talks to develop its way in the city for waste opposition in the syrian government then they can assad's relinquish these goes because they're going to realize that they are one realistic russia's foreign minister is that the tragic situation in syria could have been averted if all states shred the goal of ending violence do you agree. i absolutely agree with that unfortunately what we seen in particular over the last year is a certain place in the region where he named them turkey saudi arabia and qatar dana has made situations very very worse in syria what they have done is because in the last year the syrian militants they have made some successes notably along the turkish border and along the border with iraq and what these players have done with saudi arabia qatar and turkey is they sent they sent. terrorists into syria they've sent armed they've sent weapons into syria and they've given the mil

for you know from a personal standpoint i have no position i will do whatever this the syrian people want they are the ones who are being under constant attack now i think dialogue with some regime officials who don't have blood on their hands is possible and could signal a good step forward towards resolving this but let me be very clear i think the majority of syrians will tell you that assad has to step down there can be no negotiation that sees him staying in power ok if we go back to jerusalem what kind of party like he had just been in. yeah i would like to have the personnel observe ation here as you know the maturity of the israelis. very willing to keep the golan heights for ever if assad stays on top of syria even if it's in the garden of a coalition with the rebels i can almost for sure say us will never ever get the golan heights from the any israeli government because you have here a wonderful excuse saying why should we give the golan heights to a war criminal the truth first go to trials in in the ark so i'm not saying that this necessarily is the picture but this will

syrian territory so i think it's very unrealistic for the syrian. therefore a syrian opposition to expect president assad to step down but i suspect that if talks to develop its way in the city four way stops ition in the syrian government then they're going to start to relinquish these goes because they're going to realize that they are one realistic russia's foreign minister said the tragic situation in syria could have been averted if all states shred the goal of ending violence do you agree. i absolutely agree with that unfortunately what we seen in particular over the last year is a certain place in the region where he named them turkey saudi arabia and qatar dana has made situations very very worse in syria what they have done is because in the last year the syrian militants they have made some successes now . it'd be along the turkish border and along the border with iraq and what these places are down the saudi arabia qatar and turkey is a sense they sent terrorists into syria they sent armed they've sent weapons into syria and they've given

to cross-talk the syrian crisis i'm joined by joshua landis to norman he's an associate professor and director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma in washington we have rafi shakti she is an english spokesperson for the local coordinating committees in syria and the director of the foundation to restore equality in education in syria and in jerusalem across the he is a former director general of the israeli ministry of foreign affairs and an international relations lecturer at tel aviv university all right folks cross talk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want let's go to joshua in norman joshua what do you make of the israeli air strike against syria and the possibility of more coming very soon well i think it's you know israel is moaning along and as we say they're taking advantage of this time of weakness and syrian infighting to get rid of large weapons systems perhaps centers of research for both nuclear and chemical weapons they can reset the clock and move syria backwards this is this has been done in two thousand and seven

to syrian t.v. right now president bashar al assad has said that syria is capable of confronting any aggression which is over see how this all plays out or how to use up all of their thinking here. over the meantime our hopes of ending the ongoing conflict in syria have actually received a slight boost just on the sidelines of a key security conference in munich that's where russia's foreign minister. held its first direct talks with the leader of syria's main opposition that of the national coalition and moscow's called on the rebel group to be realistic and unite in order to bring peace negotiations with president assad laugh it off i once again reiterated that any use of force is unacceptable and that the war in syria could have already ended if indeed the geneva agreement on a unity government had been hinted at the editor of a politics first magazine marcus papadopoulos things diplomacy still has a long way to go before any real success will be achieved on the meeting between the leader of the

unfortunately we have a war a lot of syrians most syrians as a matter of fact both from the government and from the opposition. are with me because i call it civil war but it is a civil war you. mr i agree with me on something yes. you and i call it a civil war a civil war always support from outside. and you have both you have two sides in this civil war and this is what level of says there are two sides to this position of the government that they should negotiate for let's make it very clear that there are organizations that are objectively objectively can be considered. there are organisations that are considered by the government as to orders as a matter of fact who are not in syria the main struggle is really between a large part of the people of syria who want change they want change in their country. and that is i think a legitimate aspiration they want dignity that's what they said they want dignity they want change they want democracy. this is the struggle there are foreigners they are a tiny minority maybe a few hundreds maybe a couple of thousand but there is hundred thousa

in the syrian crisis you know it's a bit funny what is happening. but let's just wait and see and i'm just curious how you sort of see the developments on the ground in syria these days i mean what started off as a conflict has really developed in very unusual ways we've seen for example the the deadly blast in damascus just a few days ago how do you see sort of the evolution of the various opposition groups on the ground and what's what's actually going on there. well our perception of the conflict in syria is that the armed the armed sort of aspect of the of the uprising in syria or the conflict in syria was pretty much from very beginning. in order only to steer it the people that the first objective or the main objective of the very beginning was to inflict casualties and force the army to retaliate in such a way that people get agitated more and people go to the streets more this is our perception of the matter no you see. it has turned into a full fledged regional conflict. which is part of it or have always had certain ideology that the count

unfortunately we have a war a lot of syrians most syrians as a matter of fact both from the government and from the opposition. are with me because i call it civil war but it is a civil war you please at least you agree with me on something yes. you and i call it civil war a civil war always support from outside. and you have both you have two sides in this civil war and this is what the lover of say is there are two sides to this position of the government and they should make us so let's make it very clear that there are organisations that are objectively objectively can be considered that there are organisations that are considered by the government as to what is as much of a who are not there in syria the main struggle is really between a large part of the people of syria who want change they want change in their country. and that is i think a legitimate aspiration they want dignity that's what they said they want dignity they want change they want democracy. this is the struggle there are foreigners they are a tiny minority maybe a few hundred maybe a couple of thousand but there

the syrian national coalition seemed willing to speak with the current syrian government citing the fact that the whole reason that the national coalition exists in the first place is because they had previously refused to talk to president assad however sergey lavrov did err on the side of caution saying that there was no guarantees that this dialogue would take place bringing up the point that the coalition is so fragmented he could hardly really agree with themselves never mind sit down to open negotiations with the current syrian government syria featured very highly in the address that was given by surrogate love rove to the the security conference he also told directly to russia's western partners as a second called for unity and trying to bring in an end to the violence and bring discussion to the forefront rather than talk of international intervention he does however raise a few questions towards russia's western partners suggesting there was it worth while pursuing their mantra of regime change in countries like syria at the expense of terrorist acts being cast a blind eye to a

the syrian national coalition seem to willing to speak with the current syrian government citing the fact that the whole reason that the national coalition exists in the first place is because they had previously refused to talk to president assad however sergey lavrov did err on the side of caution saying that there was no guarantees that this dialogue would take place bringing up the point that the coalition is so fragmented he could hardly really agree with themselves never mind sit down to open the gates the ations with the current syrian government syria featured very highly in the address that was given by sergey lavrov to the the security conference he also told directly to russia's western partners as a sin called for unity and trying to bring in an end to the violence and bring discussion to the forefront rather than talk of international intervention he did however raise a few questions towards russia's western partners suggesting there was it worth while pursuing their mantra of regime change in countries like syria at the expense of terrorist acts being cast a blind eye t

syrian rebels have received a new batch of heavy weaponry from outside sponsors across the jordanian border to fight president assad that's according to arab and rebel officials this comes as fledgling efforts to promote peace talks in the syrian conflict appear to have stalled the main opposition group syria's national coalition has announced it is pulling out of upcoming international talks aimed at helping to end the bloodshed of the group will skip the scheduled meetings in russia and the us of a what if see it as a lack of international condemnation of the our side regime there's also boycotting the gathering of the friends of syria alliance meanwhile syrian pro-forma activists are walk off the western powers could be losing their influence over the opposition and that the rebels aren't interested in negotiations. they do not want to have any dialogue with the syrian government because all their strategy based in a sense on the syrian government falling and them coming as a substitute they do not have a lot of quality on the ground the also that it is for the rebel east rather t

basically do you think syrians will have to suffer even more violence. absolutely but i think the battle is shifting somewhat and i think the reasons it's shifting is that the west was relying upon most of the syrian people being sonny's in the syrian army defecting across to the terrorists which they have not done but also i think not small contribution to the development of the diplomatic process going on syria was the major military naval exercise done by the russians led by the russian chief of staff of the syrian coast which was a clear in the. they really need to think twice and back off any any talk or ratcheting up of military tensions against the syrian government all right pressure your thoughts on this activist and journalist chandan thank you very much live from london. all right r.t. has spoken exclusively to the main and mediator in the syrian conflict who had some barbed comments for the opposition the un peace envoy lakhdar brahimi said their reluctance to make any concessions to the assad government is one of the major roadblocks to peac

is the latest talks on the syrian civil conflict as russia struggles to bring both the opposition and government to the negotiating table with the rebels a reluctant. russia and around the world this is with me you dish of allah hello and welcome to the program become a petition between the u.s. and china has gone digital and the western super power isn't feeling confident key intelligence figures saying america is all right in losing a major cyber war. going into washington security. nine now reports. in january it is my pleasure to welcome president hu to the white house washington and beijing were the a list couple of geopolitics the positive constructive cooperative u.s. china relationship is good for the united states in february america's feelings are fleeting china unleashing its full spy power let's return to the alleged link between china's military and a prolific hacking group most cyber attacks are being carried out by teams inside the chinese military china is officially out of control because don't look now but prove today our sugar daddy is a thief beijing became an over

well it's so obvious the recent attack was and the syrian government. it will say introduce stabilized say it further and at the same time it was a very clear response to those who are arguing like myself and others the base should be a political settlement that this ugly stalemate should not be allowed to continue. any longer and that the saner elements within the opposition should sit down and see what can be sorted out even at this late that late stage because if this doesn't happen the war will expand as we are seeing into lebanon on and then anything's possible affectively the syrian rebel forces trying to topple the government have not had open public support which they wanted in terms of the nato strike promise of the united states coming to back them and their fictive league trying to maintain their position during this ugly transitional period to see how they can keep the situation the stabilized but it is not in the interest of the syrian people in my opinion that you mentioned lebanon there and how worrying a development is it that the free s

more than 150 syrians are forced to live here. they need everything -- clothes and shoes for the children, food, mattresses, blankets. most of them had to buy their tents themselves, and even have to pay rent to pitch the tents. apart from one tank of drinking water, there is no sanitation. >> we eat bread and drink tea. sometimes, we buy flour and egg bread. we do not have anything anymore. sometimes we go hungry. sometimes not. we lost my daughter's pants in the flood. she needs new pants, but where am i supposed to get them? >> sometimes, local construction workers bring the refugees a truckload of building rubble. they sift through it with their bare hands for useful items like wood or plastic sheeting or metal to sell for scrappe. it is particularly hard for the children. the refugee agency tries to find schools for them to attend, but it is not always possible. especially for kids from unofficial refugee camps. >> i do not go to school here. in syria, i did, but bashar bom bed our school. >> syria needs freedom, the children

unfortunately we have a war a lot of syrians most syrians as a matter of fact both from the government and from the opposition. or with me because i call it civil war but it is a civil war you just at least you agree with me on something yes if you and i call it a civil war a civil war always out that support from outside and you have both you have two sides in this civil war and this is what level of says there are two sides to this position of the government and they should make us so let's make it very clear that there are organizations that are objectively objectively can be considered. there are organisations that are considered by the government as to what is as much of a who are not there in syria the main struggle is really between a large part of the people of syria who want change they want change in their country. and that is i think a legitimate aspiration they want dignity that's what they said they want dignity they want change they want democracy. this is the struggle there are foreigners they are a tiny minority maybe a few hundred maybe a couple of thousand but there i

tonight on r t fifty three people are dead after a series of explosions rocks the syrian capital the ruling party's headquarters at the russian embassy suffered damage in those blasts. the adoptive mother of a three year old russian boy says his tragic death a month ago was an accident russia wants child abuse allegations probe further while officials still await autopsy results. and likes out britain faces the prospect of energy shortages as e.u. regulations force the u.k. to search for power over sea. hello good evening it's ten pm here in moscow my name is kevin owen it's good to have you company tonight our top story of a series of explosions rocked the syrian capital today the state news agency says fifty three people were killed and more than two hundred injured in the most powerful bomb blast it also caused severe damage shattering windows and sending a cloud of smoke above the city there says the free syrian army opposition groups now given hezbollah are a forty eight hour deadline to stop shelling its locations from neighboring lebanon our middle east correspondent paula sle

and they do not want to have any dialogue with the syrian government because all their strategy based in a sense on the syrian government falling and them coming as a substitute they do not have a lot of also to the on the ground the also the east for the rebel east rather than the political elite that are called the national council would receive the national commission so all they are interested in is for the government to form the normal that the western society the list and countries have invested a lot in them both in money and time and so on in organizing them and they think that they could probably make a stand here with regards to what they see east policy this is a bit funny because now if the choose to get out of this sort of international friends of syria meeting then the western community is really would have no leverage what so live in the syrian crisis. well to regain some leverage elsewhere america's newly installed secretary of state john kerry has embarked on his first foreign trip on the job on the list is checking the boxes with key allies in europe as well as delvi

the syrian opposition. troops will stay in. egypt protests demanding the resignation of president president. and the u.s. political. stories that made headlines this week. the syrian president bashar al assad says his able to confront any aggression. trying to destabilize the country it's all of the comments made by the israeli defense minister today for the first time that his forces were behind this week's attack on its northern neighbor. reports. it does come from the israeli defense minister a good bloke and he has said that it is proof that when israel says something it means that he did stop short of actually a third being israel's involvement now u.s. officials have said that the strike targeted an arms convoy that was carrying anti aircraft weapons from syria to lebanon according to the israeli defense minister ehud barak he said that we do not think and i'm quoting that syria should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into lebanon it is important to make the point that his comments does not constitute acknowle

syrian t.v. the president bashar al assad is saying that israel is trying to destabilize his country what do you. well as you say this is the first public comment from an israeli official over the israeli strike into syrian territory last week it does come from the israeli defense minister. and he has said that it is proof that when israel says something it means that he did stop short of actually a third israel's involvement now u.s. officials have said that the strike targeted an arms convoy that was carrying anti aircraft weapons from syria to lebanon according to the israeli defense minister ehud barak he said that we do not think and i'm quoting that syria should be allowed to bring advanced weapons systems into lebanon and it is important to make the point that his comments does not constitute acknowledgment of israel's involvement in the strike but it certainly does suggest the possibility that it took place and it was responsible for it but also said that the syrian president bashar assad

russia and iran is an acknowledgement by the leader of the syrian national coalition that the syrian government it's not going to be defeated on the military battlefield and it is acknowledgement that thousands of syrian civilians have died unnecessarily and all because outside players in the region turkey saudi arabia qatar have been hollande weapons and cash to the militants in syria hillary clinton about a year ago accused russian government of having blood on its hands flow unfortunately more the country saudi arabia catan saudi arabia we have the blood of thousands upon thousands of syrian civilians on their hands because of their own geo strategic ambitions i.e. to see the removal of presence is sad and the syrian government's fraud his military has reportedly carried out majoras strikes on the training and the district centers of islamic insurgents in northeast money but the only military campaign in the country has been marred by alleged human rights abuses and activists reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army already has an exclusive report n

and the syrian government. the military campaign there has been mobbed by alleged human rights abuses with activists reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army . report exposing the realities on the ground in some of the most battle scarred areas of the country. bunny's easily i mean in this mob the area we've discovered allegations of war crimes and information about them is under the control of mali's military government meaning it becoming i think it's getting more and more the he called to talk to people a lot of. human rights activists who are trying to identify witnesses all saying that people climbing up and feeling the heat they are scared to speak a lot of people here. very shifu the malian army seems to be doing whatever it can to prevent people from speaking to opinion when i was there because this government took advantage of the media's interest in a line and for the first time visiting the city's worst affected by hostilities today in the town of qana we were surprise

of russia and iran is an acknowledgement by the leader of the syrian national coalition that the syrian government it's not going to be defeated on the military battlefield and it is acknowledgement that thousands of syrian civilians have died unnecessarily and all because outside players in the region turkey saudi arabia qatar have been hunted weapons and cash to the militants in syria i think certainly lateral the russian foreign minister said last year how surprised he was by the naivety or the form of a syrian opposition equally. sure kristensen a stance to go from power to resign to step down except that's not the way diplomacy works that's not the way peace process is put together hillary clinton about a year ago accused russian government of having blood on its hands oh unfortunately it's more the countries saudi arabia qatar and saudi arabia who have the blood of thousands upon thousands of syrian civilians in their hands because of their own geo strategic ambitions to see that removal of presence is sad and the syrian government's. well during his visit to mali president franco

attempts to mediate peace in a meeting with the syrian opposition. and the claims french troops will stay as long as necessary to root out the insurgency that's amid mounting accusations of war crimes but. there's no sign of compromise looming between the government and the opposition in egypt where protests demanding the resignation of the president turn violent and rage on for another week. you know back in the past seven days top stories in the latest developments this is the weekly on. the syrian president bashar assad says his army is able to confront any aggression aimed against his nation he also says israel is trying to destabilize the country and softer comments made by the israeli defense minister ehud barak today hinting for the first time that his forces were behind this week's attack on his neighbor. has the details. that does come from the israeli defense minister. and he has said that it is proof that when israel says something it means that he did stop short of actually a third israel's involvement now u.s. officials have said that th

unite the syrian opposition in exile. and and qatar embraced that movement towards the end of last year however recently there have been some very significant revelations of the poor dynamics between the members of the coalition itself when the dialogue initiative presented by the head of the coalition was put forward and then we immediately had the other members of the coalition rebuffing the the initiative and saying that they did not represent them and they never heard of it or they were never consulted about the legs of the coarsest ration between the members of the coalition of course afterwards we had them accepting the initiative however this reflects some deficiencies some and some real deficiencies within the council and perhaps find to do is now put forward a step to moscow that efficiency and then give the coalition a little bit of push for so symbolically very important and perhaps that means that we could get the opposition now and a sad to negotiate with the help of the un is that a naive or maybe realistic

of russia and iran is an acknowledgement by the leader of the syrian national coalition that the syrian government it's not going to be defeated on the military battlefield and in his acknowledgement that thousands of syrian civilians have died unnecessarily and because outside players in the region turkey saudi arabia qatar at being followed in weapons and cash so the militants in syria hillary clinton about a year ago accused the russian government of having blood on its hands oh unfortunately it's more the country saudi arabia qatar and saudi arabia who have the blood of thousands upon thousands of syrian civilians on their hands because of their own geo strategic ambitions to see that removal of presence is sad and the syrian government's france's military has reportedly carried out major air strikes on the training and logistic centers of islamic insurgents in northeast money the ongoing military campaign in the country has been marred by alleged human rights abuses with activists reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army when r.t. has an exclusive re

to see that removal of presence is sad and the syrian government's. attention not of that of mali my friends is military has reportedly carried out major air strikes on the training and logistics of islamic insurgents to the northeast but the ongoing military campaign in the country has been man by a pledge to human rights abuses that diverse reporting civilian deaths torture and ethnic reprisals by the local army he has an exclusive report now exposing the realities on the ground in some of the most battle scarred areas. pony's the economy's in this mop the area we've discovered allegations of war crimes and information about them is under the control of mali's military government really meant to be coming i think it's getting more and more the he called to talk to people a lot of. human rights activists who are trying to identify witnesses off saying that people climbing up and feeling the heat stay out they are scared to speak a lot of people here. very few fool the malian army seems to be doing whatever it can to prevent people from speaking to op