response to the syrian civil war. this is two hours and 15 minutes. >> this hearing will come to order to sto. we need to review the syrian crisis. it was two years ago last week on the nightly news that we saw those protesters walking through .he street, chanting, peaceful what the world saw next without the syrian forces opened up with small arms fire on the marchers. over the ensuing weeks, that was followed by materially -- artillery barrage is and tanks and aerial apartment and finally i scud missiles into cities. two years into that syria and uprising. years, u.s. policy has been a drift. the obama administration saw assad as a reformer in the works. then at that on to play a constructive role. toand then it bet on moscow play a constructive role. this is the assad who is bombing villages in syria. this is the assad who is ordering teenagers tortured. frankly, he is engaged in murdering his populist. the ancient city is now in ruins. 70,000 syrians are dead. a million refugees has spilled into neighboring countr

they call themselves the free syrian army. their commander, abu bakri, said they now controlled half the city but that government forces were advancing. >> (translated): the day before yesterday, there was increased artillery shelling and shooting of mortars and mig planes attacked. we've retreated to create a second defensive line so we can counterattack. >> narrator: abu bakri never expected to be a rebel commander. >> (translated): i finished compulsory military service in 2006, and by allah's grace went on to study economics at the university of aleppo. that was me until the revolution started. >> takbir. >> allahu akbar. >> takbir. >> allahu akbar. >> narrator: ghaith continued his journey into aleppo. abu bakri said god willing he'd see him on the front line in two days. >> we are being smuggled into aleppo by rebels and activists. we're taking a long route through side streets, through residential ighborhoods and through villages, anit's a very complicated process. we have scouts moving ahead of us. we crossed a couple

us goals in this conflict what are the risks of failure and will anarchy be the only winner in the syrian civil war. to cross talk the war in syria i'm joined by dan arbella in washington he is again scholar at the sob in center for middle east policy at the brookings institution and of former israeli diplomat also in washington we have now he is a political analyst and in london we cross to. he is the president of the arab lawyers association in the u.k. our gentlemen crossed cycles in effect it means you can jump in anytime you want daniel if i can go to you first in washington what is their sales agenda in this war right now because we hear maybe a buffer zone could be created into syria. is not intervening in the conflict taking place in syria but it's watching the situation unfolding very very closely israel has many concerns regarding what's happening in syria today first and foremost the chemical weapons. held by the assad regime and there's really concern that may fall into the wrong hands or may be used. as a last resort second this is been the quietest border along israel's bord

opposition is actually to syrian opposition but in order to question what is it say to their. resignation we simply shows how divided house regularly noted the syrian national coalition is and that's no surprise given that it's quite simply a ragtag organization which is made up of started many different groups and largely occupied by islamist groups so i think it's very dangerous for western powers to actually invest any trust in the syrian national coalition and on the wall so who has actually voted these people in certainly the syrian people. syrian people haven't voted them in so they are completely out of touch with the reality on the ground in syria so that's what you're saying that this that this coalition which is in exile this this year foreign based opposition really doesn't have much influence or sway over these rebel factions fighting in syria is that what you're saying well that in the sixty four thousand dollar question for the last year just how much influence do they actually do they actually exert over the different militant groups in syria it's very very diff

act like they're shooting down the syrian army so basically. reportedly the syrian opposition not exactly welcoming this support from the united states possibly because they're used to other types of support they're used to getting an arms through different channels they're used to getting in actual fighters from different countries by proxy this is something that germany in the united states are saying that they are trying to avoid spawning basically some mockery of the aid that is being given to them but one thing to keep in mind in the past two years of this conflict the u.n. estimates that seventy thousand people have been killed and approximately one million people have fled to the syrian borders to neighboring countries so whether or not they're trying to keep this from becoming a part of the global community it looks like it is already wedding into a world conflict with world interest a satirical take there on a very serious situation that son thomas giving us an update on that story. right egypt is a flame away the city of port side onc

happy that the syrians are destroying themselves are committing suicide destroying that army and killing their people they hope that this will also end up by getting hizbullah and iran influence i got there i want to go to those topics a little bit later now bill in washington you jump in but israel subjectives here let me first define the syrian conflict because without a proper definition of things would be confusing they see their conflict is the end of world war one and this means many important developments i think is an old goal shared by egypt to stop syria from becoming a wide that regional crisis with c.d.'s geopolitical implications that are basically favorable to any disruptive force in that part of the middle east ok damn so it looks like israel as you know is getting what it wants because syria is destroying itself. well i don't think that the comment made by his correct or the israelis are enjoying this one bit i think it's a great tragedy and that is how it is viewed by many many israelis i do agree with the comments regarding the egypt concern and the same the same the co

opposition because there's a syrian opposition want diplomacy and what. we have the evidence to support the fact that. has gone out of his way has upset his own rank and file in his own follow was to open negotiations with a butcher a stage regime in damascus is no two ways about it this is a regime that's killed its own people maimed its own people and despite. fact that the syrian national council and even if an army or elements within it and al qaeda supporters inside the country that are hell bent on destroying the regime are going out of his way and repeatedly offered in the last two months with the us support i hasten to add. and initiatives that results in greater peace what was acid response to that as the demolished president demolished miles of her family home in damascus the day after michael made the offer for diplomacy and peace talks i don't think it's just the fault of the rebels here think it's important to realize that the shuttle i said and his supporters are not really in the business of peace because they've got everything to lose and

is demanding the immediate release of a group of its peacekeepers who were taken hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights the militants say they're using the observers as human shields and the hold them until syria's government forces pull back from a nearby village the provocative move by the opposition comes despite some leading u.n. members increasing their support for the rebels artie's paula slee are reports. the united nations says that around twenty of its peacekeepers have been detained by about thirty armed syrian rebel fighters not only the rebels released a video where they accuse the united nations of assisting the syrian president bashar assad's forces in entering rebel captured areas in the same video they also put forward their demands. we demand from the u.s. the u.n. and the security council that the troops of bashan ascends regime withdrawn from the village until then the peacekeepers will remain our hostages if our demand is not fulfilled during the next twenty four hours we will treat the hostages as prisoners now the united nations has of course condemned this in

the syrian people is that a sign that the syrian national coalition and the free syrian army actuallyon't have control over elements of the rebels and we're actually seeing extremists. in some ways hijacking the whole mission of the syrian national coalition and the opposition but absolutely we have seen this one million times they have absolutely no control of their homes on the ground just these one example. was a little bit interesting interview walked over to earlier he said there celebes and grab the girls are only like one of. the early producing or even as he referred to them while his. the person who is busy being supported from the u.s. now says there was nothing wrong at the end of the musician based on u.s. standards is always going to fall through the lines and is the most important part in the revolutionary group so if they really believe that enough. of the troops on the ground they also have all of this if they did leave for that matter. i mean mohamad editor in chief of syria tribune online magazine thanks very much indeed for sharing your thoughts with us live here on

syrian college. they call them selves and. it is the consul first time was in turkey even when it's to so they called them and they said that we could not that's ok. and the negotiations. turkey is not turkey. and saudi arabia was involved in this think negotiation. well some of the insurgents they are syrians. they are syrians who are weak at heart and they can be seduced by money. but most of these militants they're foreigners. that you. are. the first question well what's your religion. you know. for example our friend was christian. and they forced him to pray like. they gave me the. you know the dress and give it a job they gave it to me the first day they said cover yourself and i ask them ok you ask for freedom why don't you back mike. if they need the national what they do is not for the people it's against us. they are killing us and our children they want to destroy our life we don't break them it's just politics. harry interesting to do with it now since you're already it was can they were. told to do so i believe y

just too late have a syrian man to turn to a large majority of the syrian people so what is the prediction for the future will sad hold on or now with this pressure although you say it's not extra pressure from the arab league from the gulf states saying that we're going to provide more weapons do you see this conflict going on at all and yet more and more deaths. well yes we we we are looking at forms of. violence and now we have a very dangerous indication that talk about chemical weapons and the use of chemical weapons by the locals and then them in the hood not syria so we just got looking at monza elation a lot of this a lot of casualties a lot of his price to be paid by the syrian people but without actually changing the balance of chemical weapons that's an alarming development many thought that a sad would be perhaps potentially using chemical weapons now there are accusations that the rebels themselves could have used chemical weapons just recently where would they be getting those weapons from. first the. investigation that we did see interviewing team we can see where they have

the syrian government runs the syrian media. >> that's right. >> shepard: it's the syrian media is sayingl weapons, with the knowledge that our president said that's a line in the san, which would suggest to me that the syrian government would like to get all of us involve. wonder why? reporter: the syrian government has been incredibly shrewd at reading the pain thresh hold of its allies, like russia and iran and it's enemies, the united states and nato, et cetera. it knows how to walk up to that line and it's been very good at it. so if it did in fact use the weapons and you're reporting earlier suggested it depend and i agree -- but it knows it jumps out there with state media first, putting the world out saying it was the rebels. you saw the russians very quickly piggybacked on to that, supporting the government line. that suggests to me not just that they're allies of syria bought the know the seriousness of. the -- the consequences if the chemical weapons are used. >> shepard: big picture, if the syrian government could now have a new bad guy -- in other words, the united states or

no one believes the syrian media ok no one believes this is the syrian. and. i. wealthy british. markets why not. find out what's really happening to the global economy with max cause or for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines in two kinds a report. to the. science technology innovation hall the list of elements from around russia we've dumped the future covered.

the syrian opposition says that forces loyal to the syrian president bashar assad fired what they are claiming all chemical weapons as rebels surrounding an army base in the town of address on the outskirts of the syrian capital of damascus now the reports we have all that to rebel fighters were killed and some twenty two people were wounded it comes in light of accusations last week in which both sides accuse the other of using chemical weapons in any mysterious explosion near the city of aleppo which killed some twenty six people and wounded dozens of that incident was swiftly labeled by western intelligence agencies as a chemical incident perpetrated by forces loyal to the syrian president assad the syrian regime osce the united nations to launch an investigation the russian ministry has said that if there are reasons to believe that chemical weapons in fact. comprising of permanent united nations security council members has to be saying to syria the american president barack obama he has constantly in the process put the issue of chemical weaponry on the table saying that a red l

president bashar al assad now when it comes to syrian opposition the syrian opposition of course has been largely disjointed in their efforts to overthrow the regime of the syrian president aust said ah but they haven't shown any unity of whatsoever and one of the as one of the leaders of one of those fragments of the syrian opposition has been in last go on a monday talking a to russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov there have been reports in western media very recently about u.k. france and the united states military personnel training some of the still syrian ever read all forces there in jordan primarily training them to use anti-tank weapons and this sort of training according to this of member of the syrian opposition is something that is only is only making this syrian crisis worse in an interview to artie's arabic channel he has made that statement. oh good two of them and i want the opposition to be united for at least we would know who to negotiate with but unfortunately there are many small armed groups we are trying to establish contact with the most rational and far se

syrian rebels came to the u.s. for support and they get the fact is the u.s. thus far has provide humanitarian aid non-lethal support and given food and blankets has not given the kind of weapons that flint asserts and. poured fuel on and on the conflict u.s. has tried repeatedly to reign in this conflict the u.s. is not involved in the kind of. support that being portrayed we should be debating whether it should or shouldn't but it seems to me that the fact that it's being portrayed that the u.s. is already it's a done deal somehow you know that the u.s. is providing arms when it really isn't and this is a point repeating this fact over and over and over again that the rebels want to arm from the u.s. the turks the gulf allies the u.s. has wants the u.s. to support i said on the basis of being in this country in the regular basis that you know the u.s. gets flak again and again that why are you supporting the syrian opposition and the u.s. isn't that said the russians and the iranians are actively supporting the regime and there's an there's an imbalance ther

it's syrian rebels say they'll keep using captured peacekeepers as human shields in the disputed heights despite the un for the immediate release. of. the un security council unanimously votes to adopt more sanctions on north korea following pyongyang's nuclear tests last month. could spend up to twelve years in prison for masterminding an attack on his artistic director. of his involvement but said splashing acid on his boss wasn't the planned. mourning of the country braces itself a change after the death of its. we examine the prospects of the political transition the top stories. around the world on the screen online international news and comment line from our new center here in moscow this is. the u.n. is demanding the release of a group of its peacekeepers taken hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights the militants say they're using the observers as human shields and will hold them until syrian government forces pull back from a nearby village middle east correspondent has the details. all twenty one you in personnel well armed they're all from the philippines and we've hear

syrian rebels in the golan heights. thousands of venezuelans mourn publicly their late leader with the death of lugo chavez leaving behind a political vacuum and uncertainty. unknown drones the u.s. and pakistan trade barbs over who was behind the airstrikes last month as the spread of unmanned aircraft raises the specter of unaccountable killing. ten m. in moscow très a good to have you with us here on r t our top story this hour the u.n. is demanding the immediate release of a group of its peacekeepers taken hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights militants say they're using the observers as human shields and mold on to them until syria's government forces pull back from a nearby village the provocative move by the opposition comes despite some leading u.n. members increasing their support for the rebels as artie's policy reports. the united nations says that around twenty of its peacekeepers have been detained by about thirty armed syrian rebel fighters not only the rebels released a video where they accuse the

no one believes the syrian media ok no one believes this is the syrian me. for some people extreme cold is the chilling threat to life will remain a dish it's a cooling if you look you can see that the water is our rates and my body feels really warm now this is good for you. they plunge into icy water to make themselves stronger you can't get used to the cold if you can tolerate it and you can struggle with. people of snow and ice picks as a frost. surviving the cold. cold. cold cold. i little fun. good speed. i wish i. could. just skip. out on a little and. download the official publication yourself choose your language stream quality and enjoy your favorite. if you're away from your television just doesn't how would your mobile device you can watch on t.v. anytime anywhere. they've been living this way since the seventeenth century. or strict. their communities are isolated. they clearly missed english between their own and the alien. and guard their family and thinks is a treasure. i . can use a secret laboratory to mccurdy was able to build the old most

for thetoric moment syrian opposition on. have the serial resolution not taken place, of president assaad would have sat in a similar chair. be ever protesting syria, literally sitting in a chair that probably would not be occupied by president al assaad. arabs been calling on the league for quite some time to take this step and now finally, this is given to the delegates attending the summit and they're saying that this could be a game changer in all of this and it could start leading to more support and the momentum of the syrian revolution. there's huge optimism for the syrian revolution, but the whole thing is still overshadowed by the resignation. by the way, i understand that he is now reconsidering his resignation. >> you wonder who is really in charge of the opposition. his really striving for retail leading the delegation, yet he says he wants out and that we're putting all of our faith behind the otherry, but man. >> kamal, of the hierarchy leaves him as a more senior to the interim prime minister. was the resignati

hostages human shields by syrian rebels in the golan heights. thousands of venezuelans publicly more in their late leader with the death of who go shadows leaving behind a political vacuum and uncertainty. unknown drones the u.s. and pakistan trade accusations over who was behind air strikes last month as the spread of unmanned aircraft raises the specter of unaccountable killings. and a top choice theater dancer who admitted to ordering an attack on the artistic director of the ballet company pleads not guilty saying he didn't know would be so severe or that acid would be used we have the details of the case shortly. it's noon in moscow has a very good having you with us here on r t we begin our show in the middle east where the u.n. is demanding the immediate release of a group of its peacekeepers being held hostage by syrian rebels in the golan heights militants say they're being they're using the observers as human shields and will hold them until syria's government forces pull back from a nearby village let's get the latest from artie's mid

no one believes the syrian media ok no one believes this is the syrian me. potentially deadly blizzard taking aim for the northeast it's expected to hit starting in a few hours from new york to may we have team coverage of the storm. but what we're watching is the very heavy snow moving into boston. robert earlier today it was very sticky you can see it start to become much more. the bottom line there is still a lot of snow out here a good place for snowball fight the fire season it is going to be pretty incredible day there and even record snowfall throughout what's it been like nobody's logged three drug losses some emergency vehicles exceptional. you know sometimes you see a story and it seems so for life you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything is ok you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture. the for. more news today violence is once again flared up the film these are the images the world has been seeing from the streets of canada the first giant c

has just confirmed that it will be supplying more support to the syrian opposition yet british m.p.'s there in london saying this could actually turn into a rocky start military intervention you've been talking about libya do you see similarities that something like that could happen there in syria as what we saw in iraq. iraq is probably the more similar scenario to syria than libya as there's no real desire for room military intervention in syria the real manifestation of double standards is truly shown in this era crisis where you have william hague who stated that there is a great threat of terrorism threat of jihad these coming back from syria having an ideology of killing which is going back to britain there is britain british jihadist the first british jihad he was killed two days ago so there are the rules threat from islamic terrorism coming from syria and he says that we must stop syria from becoming a bed or a kind of hard of terrorism at the same time he claims he wants to arm the syrian opposition he was to give them money through a he would provide armored vehicles to p

opposition was waiting to negotiate with syrian president. it is important to remember that this was the first time ever that the syrian opposition talked about the possibility of talking to a side although later backtracked by saying that he was willing to talk about the departure of assad with his vice president and his government but not with the syrian president assad himself now how to resignation does raise questions over the integrity of the syrian national opposition coalition it comes on the heels of twelve opposition members pulling out last week over the election of applying minister hunted has complained that there has been insufficient groundwork to actually be able to form a government what we witnessing also is stark division amongst not a united picture at all and the opposition finding it very difficult to come to some kind of united stance on how to deal with the syrian regime and hunted stepping down is also seen as a sign of internal divisions it is seen as a sign of anxiety and so the question remains what does his resign

well some of the insurgents they are syrians. they are syrians who are weak at heart and they can be seduced by money. but most of these militants they're foreigners. that you. are. the first question well what two of those are. you know. for example our friend was christian. and they forced them to pray like. they gave me the. you know the dress and give it a job they gave it to me the first day they said cover yourself and i ask them ok you ask for freedom why don't you back mike. if they need the national what they do is not for the people it's against us. they are killing us and our children they want to destroy our life with them grit them it's just politics it. very interesting developments in syria already was can they were. told to do so i believe you convert. it all is not going to. like night and let's not lose the one in. one day we had to film at night with an infrared camera. and we went straight to the firing line. who tried night the clean up operation is entering a critical stage you can hear the shooting in the b

the association of syrian academics organize this event at the university. they are calling for german help and german weapons for the resistance against bashar al- assad. he is making his case for trusting moderate forces in syria, but he also wants a weapons the free syrian army. >> we do not need weapons to attack others, but in order to defend ourselves. we are now organized sufficiently so that germany will say yes to supporting us. >> a tough challenge for the ambassador of the syrian opposition in paris. -- he is working against radicalization in the forces, but he still backs arming the rebels. >> it is your responsibility to act since the europeans have let the syrian people high and dry for the last two years. russia, iran, and -- are backing the atrocities. >> sobering statistics after two years of conflict. 70,000 people dead, over one million refugees, much of syria reduced to rubble. arming the president's opponents remains controversial. a rift has opened up over the issue in the eu. with britain and france pushing for dropping in eu weapons e

the association of syrian academics organize this event at the university. they are calling for german help and german weapons for the resistance against bashar al- assad. he is making his case for trusting moderate forces in syria, but he also wants a weapons the free syrian army. >> we do not need weapons to attack others, but in order to defend ourselves. we are now organized sufficiently so that germany will say yes to supporting us. >> a tough challenge for the ambassador of the syrian opposition in paris. -- he is working against radicalization in the forces, but he still backs arming the rebels. >> it is your responsibility to act since the europeans have let the syrian people high and dry for the last two years. russia, iran, and -- are backing the atrocities. >> sobering statistics after two years of conflict. 70,000 people dead, over one million refugees, much of syria reduced to rubble. arming the president's opponents remains controversial. a rift has opened up over the issue in the eu. with britain and france pushing for dropping in eu weapons e

resignation rejected the syrian national coalition pushes its leader to stay in his post to be wider fears trouble will derail at the top will direct chances of talks with the government. you. know. i had no idea that. i did not. strike in guantanamo off the radar in the us media prisoners have been refusing food for forty eight days now risking their health in a desperate protest. ten am in moscow. good to have you with us here on r t we begin in cyprus where fraud talks went down to the white wire but the country managed to clinch an eleventh hour belo deal with creditors to avoid financial ruin is a price to pay the people with more than one hundred thousand euros in the country's second largest bank will see a chunk of that taken away the bank itself will be broken up artie's test has more from. or has. really been a last minute effort here trying to meet monday twenty fifth of matched by the european central bank and cutting up liquidity there will be a restructuring of the country's second largest bank your capital bank of cyprus like you know what's going to happen is going to