it was part of the syrian army. then it joined recently the qatar army, and they're trying to get a grip. the problem they're facing now with the russian airstrikes that are targeting the opposition, the syrian army has taken offense to that situation and mounding a massive ground operation in those areas. they would like to control the western part to push the rebels completely out of the city. this is why we have seen reali realignment. they are now trying to coordinate and push back the syrian army in that area. >> hashem, thank you for that. hashem ahelbarra. >> now saudi arare i can't foreign minister said its difficult to envision a role for iran if it tons fight on the ground. they're backing the syrian regime in their four-year civil war. >> the answer is simple. iran must pull out of syria, stop arming the syrian regime, and pull out. if so, it can be part of the solution. now it is combating occupying force, and it is difficult for iran to be part of the solution while it is killing and displacing innocent

we're in the fifth year of the syrian humanitarian crisis.he united states has contributed over $4.5 billion in both direct assistance and through three u.n. crisis appeals with nearly 75% going through the latter. the crisis appeals. yet, there seems to be no end in sight in this tunnel. russia's recent intervention is causing serious security concerns for not only the people of syria, but the ngos and the aid workers on the ground trying to bring assistance to those in desperate need. the front lines are shifting, and the battle lines are fluid, causing uncertainty and making it increasingly dangerous to deliver aid to certain areas and making it an increasingly dangerous for syrians who remain in their homeland. the situation has gotten so bad that we're now seeing europe struggle to deal with its greatest migration and refugee crisis since world war ii as many fleeing the syrian conflict are trying to make their way into europe. but while the european crisis may be grabbing the headlines at the moment, let's remember that this crisis was

syrian people of this right.he syrian arab army astonished the world with its power, and faith, and persist importance. mr. president, the important invitation of his excellency, president vladimir putin for the establishment of an international regional coalition to counter terrorism received the attention of the syrian government and its support. terrorism cannot be fought only from the air, and all of the previous operations to combat it, have only lead to its spread and outbreak. air strikes are useless unless they are conducted in cooperation with the syrian arab army. the only force in syria that is combatting terrorism. the announcement of the beginning of the russian air strikes in syria, which came upon the request from the syrian government, and in coordination with the government, is an effective participation in the support of the syria efforts in combatting terrorism. the so-called arab spring was a spring only for israel and itself undercover and known allies. israel continues to attack syria, while

are not like syrians here. there is a syrian community, there is migration. igration happens to the u.s. whether it's non-immigration coming through school, visitors , i thinkle migrating the syrian crisis really put .omething out we have to build up the capacity to be able to make the kind of referrals that would yield 400,000 people. we have done these things in the past, but it does take time. my hope is we can maintain a positive trajectory which would syrians beingmore admitted next year. that's certainly the goal we want to work with and see where we take it. thatd see the same thing seemed like it would stop the , but thereits tracks has to be the political world -- the political will. not just in the u.s., but has to be everyone's will to move forward and get past this narrative that there's something fundamentally worse about syrian refugees than everyone else. these problems can be worked through. they are not insurmountable issues. they are doable and it's a matter of getting the whole in place and resources in place to do them. country, we are run

the russians also again targeted other syrian rebel groups.urkey has asked russia to stop attacking the rebel grouped largely supported by the west. meanwhile the presidents of russia and france have met to discuss their military operations as they have tried to overcome differences over whether syrian president bashar al-assad should stay power. >> reporter: the russian defense ministry says it is destroying isil command and control centers along with arms dumps. >> translator: to avoid hitting civilian targets the air strikes are determined only after thorough reconnaissance. >> reporter: but on the ground the syrian opposition tells a different story. it says they have been targeting sillians and armed groups opposed to president bashar al-assad. >> translator: air strikes could affect the opposition, but not that much. the syrian government has been hitting the north for months, but it didn't stop the rebel advance, so strikes without ground troops won't be successful, but now there is information of a possible land operation being prepare

free syrian army.m about the difference. what's the difference between those that join the free syrian army groups as opposed to isis and nusra? >> (translated): in the beginning, they would join the free syrian army. and then it developed into islamist groups, to nusra, and to finally isis. they will all become isis. w all of them. >> smith: then, after conflating all his enemies, he tells me why he wants to destroy them. >> (translated): i have a beautiful wife and three beautiful daughters, and i need to protect them because these scum of the earth have started selling the women from minority groups. look at who is behind isis and who is making it work. who is behind isis? definitely individuals in the american leadership. the zionist lobby. the turkish secret service. turkey 100%. they facilitate everything the saudis and qataris are funding. it's a world project. >> smith: many in america say that the president is a war criminal, and he is conducting a war indiscriminately and killing civilians. w

yet to syrians arriving here. and some of the other refugee crises that we have responded to have -- such as kosovo. the response of bringing individuals to the u.s. was more immediate. when we resettled people, they had fresh trauma, violence that they had just experienced. many of the syrians now are being told that the weight they face in the region in the camps in turkey or lebanon could be three or four years. so what we are seeing is a highly traumatized population, almost all syrian families have experienced a death -- a husband, brother, child. but they are not able to find that immediate protection that they need. that's one big difference. a comparison would be to central america. where we have heard interviews of young men leaving syria who have said, my choice was stay here or die or get on a boat and face the possibility of death there. with central american children being interviewed, we also hear the same story. i can either stay here, faced at that the hands of a game, -- gang, or i can try to find

a reporter from "the daily mail" brought a syrian -- bought a syrian passport, i.d. card and driver's license for $2,000 in turkey under the name of a real man who was killed in the conflict. so you face a difficult problem. and the former head of the association of csi officers said that the agency has become a rubber stamp. there's no way they have the ability to do what is asked of them. mr. emrich, i know you haven't changed any of your procedures, but what the procedures -- they are not going to do the job. and let's talk about that, honestly, about it. the director of the national intelligence, mr. clapper, recently stated we don't put it past the likes of isil to infiltrate operatives among the refugees and he further stated it's a huge concern of ours. do you think that he's correct? do you disagree with that? >> i guess i would like to talk to you about what our process is. >> i'm just asking, are you concerned? he said, we don't put it past isil to infiltrate operatives in those refugees. it's a huge concern for us. now you and mr. emrich should be evaluati

it is up to the syrians and should be up to the syrian to decide who is going to leave them.evitably because assad has been so strong, he will have to be part of the transition, not because they like or dislike him, but because he is held on. amy: i want to turn to the democratic presidential debate. and this is governor martin o'malley criticizing hillary clinton's call for no-fly zone in syria >> don't you want to use military force too rapidly? >> i believe as president, i would not be so quick to pull for a military tool. i believe a no-fly zone in syria at this time actually secretary would be a mistake. you have to enforce no-fly zones , and i believe, especially with the russian air force in the air, it could lead to an escalation because of an accident that we would deeply regret. >> there's a lot of loose talk going on. we are already flying in syria, just as we are flying in iraq. the president has made a very tough decision. what i believe, and why i have advocated that the no-fly zone -- which of course would be in a coalition -- be put on the table is because i a

strategy against isil in syrian and iraq?> well, basically this was just one part of trying to go after isil. the u.s. will argue that it had nine differ pillars and the military component is just one of them. the air war against isil targets continues and that is being done perhaps with a more vigorous participation in recent days with french fighters. but in terms of trying to get local fighters involved they are simply going to change the way they include them in this fight against isil. >> thank you very much, ros. >>> now iran's revolutionary guard have confirmed the death of a top general in syria. he was killed near aleppo. zana hoda is in lebanon with more. >> reporter: iranian state media saying he was killed by quote, terrorists. they do say that he was killed in the aleppo countryside, but no details of where and how really. where in aleppo, but we understand from the syrian observatory for human rights is the general was killed in fighting near the front line. iran we do know has advisers on the ground, they ackno

bashar al-assad which means syrian government useless criminal methods against civilians than syrianpposition. >> we have seen a lot of people, of course, leave the syrian government areas and flow into europe but we will have to leave it there for now. thanks so much for your thoughts on that. there is much more to come here on the newshour. a new warning about the growing number of child brides around the world and what it means for their education. we will find out how the malaysian prime minister is did he have fending himself in a multi-million dollar corruption scandal. in sports, one of the men hoping to run world football is facing a 15-year suspension from the governing boiled. we will have more of the details. ♪ >>> japan is urging china to join the newly signed transpacific partnership to increase security and growth in the asia pacific region. after long-running negotiations, the freed trade deal for 2/5. world's economy was agreed on mopped. their parliament did need to give approval. china is working on setting up a rival agreement, though. in south korea, the philippin

that area is protected by the syrian integrated air defense system. were we to fly there, we would need to deal with the syrian integrated air defense system, which is a substantial undertaking of its own, which we have analyzed. and we have capabilities to do. then we would be interdicting fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft that were attacking the syrian population. i should note that, however, that most of the civilian casualties inflicted by assad's forces on the civilian population have been from artillery. obviously, this wouldn't do anything about arartillery. but it would do something about air strikes. it's a substantial new undertaking. we have not made the recommendation to do it at this time. i respect people for making recommendations for these kind of zones. there are humanitarian zones which have been referenced which are a portion of syria now speaking conceptually where people could congregate and be protected. those zone thus created would be contested by isil at a minimum. and so it would have to be defended. again, it's a substanti

what is my image of syrian refugees? a three-year-old syrian boy who drowned in the mediterranean.ook at that little corpse that washed up on the shore and thought that is my grandson. that is the image i take from the syrian refugee crisis. more than half of syria's 23 million people have been forced from their homes. are than 4 million syrians registered as refugees, including almost 2 million children. one than 10,000 syrian children have been killed. thousands are unaccompanied and separated from their parents. they are not economic migrants, they are refugees fleeing for their lives. somalia put it well and she wrote "no one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. no one put their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land." the syrian refugee crisis is praise -- place a great strain on many countries. hostsn, -- lebanon now 1.2 million registered syrian refugees. the refugees per capita than any other country in the world. only 30% of the population. jordan going through the same type of strain. do we have any obligation in the united states to face t

the fact that the syrian regime and syrian opvision are not involved in these talks really shows howficult it is going to be for all of the participants. >>> republican paul ryan has been elected to one of the biggest jobs in the u.s. politics. just a few minutes ago he became the new speaker of the u.s. house of representatives, that's the lower house of the u.s. congress. kimberly halkett joins us from capitol hill. i understand it has been smiles today there, but what sort of task because paul ryan face tomorrow? >> reporter: he has a pretty big job ahead. you are right, all smiles right now. we are stating for paul ryan, the 54th speaker of the u.s. congress to speak. that should happen in just a moment. but as you point out, lots of land clapping and praising, but tomorrow the work really begins, to try to repair an era of divisiveness, and deep policy differences that have paralyzed this legislative body on capitol hill for many, many years now. many believe that paul ryan is the one that can change the tone. he needs to reach across the aisle, and work with democrats in order

it's not like syrians are not here. there is a syrian community, there is migration.igration happens to the u.s. whether it's non-immigration coming through school, visitors or people migrating through immigrant visas, etc. i think , the syrian crisis really put something out in front, which is that we have to be more creative. we have to build up the capacity to be able to make the kind of referrals that would yield 400,000 people. it's a big lift. we have done these things in the past, but it does take time. my hope is we can maintain a really positive trajectory which for the u.s. would be five times more syrians being admitted next year. that's certainly the goal we want to work with the u.s. on and see where we take it. we did see the same thing that with the iraqi program. it seemed like it would stop the program in its tracks, but i do think it has to be the political will. not just the u.s. political will, but everybody's will. and we have to get past this narrative that there's something fundamentally worse about syrian refugees than everyone else. i think th

has taken in only a small number of syrian refugee.he michigan governor says his state should do more. not everyone agrees. >> reporter: good afternoon, del. this summit is an opportunity for american arab leaders from across the country to come together and focus on a platform ahead of the presidential election, and the conflict in syria has really taken center stage here, as you mentioned about 4 million, it's estimated 4 million syrians have fled the country over the past couple of years, and the majority are women and small children. the u.s. has pledged to take in 10,000 syrian refugees, but arab american leaders here in dearborn, michigan say more needs to be done. >> four years now. in the beginning we startled by some of the numbers, and hoping the situation would get better so less would leave. and each year those numbers continue to grow as oppose to decrease, and it's just something that i think requires us to do more. >> reporter: and right now, michigan governor rick sni snide -- sneijder is talking about ways to except fo

how many of them are trained to deal with syrian refugees?>> in total -- well in total there are 100. i don't know specifically how many are trained. what i will tell you is that, for example, in istanbul at any time, we will have deployed either a team of either five or ten, depending on how many cases are actually ready for their intervention. >> and are there specific security checks that have been instituted specifically for syrian applicants? >> it is the syrian vetting is the most intense vetting that we conduct. i talked about the interagency checks. >> which agencies are -- >> a number of intelligence agencies. a number of law enforcement agencies, are populating the database that we use for the information check, including specific databases that identify individuals who may be terrorists. >> and while their application's pending where do they reside? >> they may reside in specific -- depending on where they are. a lot of that depends on where they are. they could be in refugee camps. a large number of them are. >> they're abroad? >>

iran is backing the syrian regime in its four-year syrian war. >> the answer is simple. iran must pull out of syria, stop arming the syrian regime, and pull out of the militia sent in by hezbollah. if so it can be part of the solution. now it is combating occupying force, and it is i difficult for iran to be part of the solution while it is still occupying the arab territories and killing and displacing citizens. >> well, the fighting in syria has led many to flee to europe. they're stranded in transit countries in poor conditions as winter approaches. more than 10,000 asylum seekers, many of them syrian, are stranded in serbia. medical workers have described the growing humanitarian situation. >> this is the condition. look tat. this is beyond our capability, the resources that are here. and the croatian serbian people have been very helpful, there are volunteers from both countries. we're working, doctors without borders, they ran out of medicine. we supply them. they're doing a great job. but he's one daughter. i'm one daughter. there are two dollars here and there ar

we agreed this political process will be syrian lead and syrian owned, and that the syrian people will decide the future of syria, and we agreed together with the united nations to exmodalities of, and imp implementation of a nationwide ceasefire. we will continue to work on the areas of disagreement, and build on the areas of agreement. and we'll reconvene within two weeks to continue these discussions. in closing, let me reiterate that we all have a sense of urgency. we all know what is at stake, and personally i have met with refugees the survivors of barrel bombing, the unspeakable torture that have taken place. i have talked to women who have struggled to hold their families, and i have heard the blood chilling stories of doctors and relief workers who are dealing with the humanitarian trauma that this war is creating on a daily basis. i am aware, as you are, of atrocities that have been committed and are being committed by the extremes on both sides. as i said a couple of days ago, the challenge is nothing less than to chart a course out of hell. and that's not going to happen ov

and not help the syrian rebels fight assad? >> if you look at it in terms of scales you've got i.s.i.l. and you've got assad. i would argue that 99% of the rebel groups in syria is to have one keys common objective to up-root assad and get him out of that. i.s.i.l. has become a hindrance to that objective. so the focus offing i.s.i.l. versus assad was one of the key problems to begin with. one of the things we have to be careful and clever with is that now the russians and iranians have got involved in this. what we are seeing is this gall vannization of rebel groups anti-assad rebel groups the moderates to the jihadists. we have the free syrian army that are in cahoots with nusra, so the problem is, is that when you go outside of the ypg, the syrian kurds who do you actually support? if you end up supporting the free syrian army training and equip for example they are in cahoots with nusra. where do you draw the line. i think because there is no political solution here, as we've seen from vienna, there is no political mandate,

refugees and they visited the refugee camp where more than 80,000 syrians live.alian government denied that refugees of a certain religious background would be given preference. in bela-ruse hundreds marched in the capitol minsk to protest the election result and alexander shenko won with 83% of the vote after opposition boycotted the pole and ruled the former soviet republic for the past 21 years and they ban big game hunting two years ago to promote conservation and since then wild animals like lions and elephants have thrived but coming into contact with villages and want the ban lifted and the tourism profits it has and we report. >> reporter: the village here used to earn 300,000 a year for government sanctioned big game hunting for organizers but it was ban two years ago. >> we have seen more lions and elephants coming to the village. we don't know whether it's because during hunting they are kept busy by animals that way or at that time. >> reporter: lost all by one of her goats to a nighttime lion attack. >> translator: there are no jobs in the village an

who are syrian arab coalition that's my question, actually. >> syrian arab coalition is a group of groups. so, it's 10, maybe 12 smaller groups of syrian fighters who have been focused on fighting isil and in the vicinity of the fight and the 10 to 12 groups have coaled coalesced together in an effort to multiply their combat power. so, you know, we got in contact through various ways with the leaders of these smaller groups who then came up with an overall group leader. we exfiltrated about 20 of these group leaders through another location where we spent a week familiarizing them with our train and equip program, giving them instruction on warfare, et cetera. brought them back in and gave them their ammunition. so, i don't know what else to tell you. this is a group of syrian arabs who have -- a group of groups who have come together to fight isil. >> can you clarify, then, does that mean when you say 20 leaders, does that mean that there are 20 subgroups within the syrian arab coalition roughly? >> it does not. there's 10 to 12. some of them it's hard to tell exactly. there's no more t

the son of a syrian immigrant. would hope today that as we reflect on this issue we reflect on history. i would like to introduce the members of the subcommittee to hasam alustrum. he fled his home in 2013 after his house was shelled by a missile from the syrian army. he moved into another house with five other families, and that house was shelled as well. he moved to another neighborhood, but barrel bombs were being dropped in that neighborhood. he fled syria with his wife, suha, and two children. after a difficult journey he nded up in jordan where he replied for refugees status. he came here on june 16 this year. he now works two jobs. he moves furniture during the day and he's a baker at night in order to support his family. mr. alustrum is not a terrorist, and he's not a fiscal drain on our country. we should be proud that our country has welcomed him and his family. that is what our country is about. that's what i hope my colleagues will understand. >> thank you, senator disturb-in. thank you to your guest wh

this approach builds on successes that local syrian arab and syrian furnish courses -- kurdish forces have made to retake and hold ground with the help of airstrikes and equipment resupply. if done in concert, as we intend, all of these actions on the ground and from the air should help shrink territory into a smaller and smaller area and create new opportunities for targeting, ultimately denying any safe haven and it supposedly land. the 2nd is room mahdi, the capitol of the anbar province which serves as a critical example of the government's commitment to work with local communities with our help to retake and hold ground. and in turn, to build momentum we eventually go northward. under the prime minister's leadership, the iraqis have begun to use american-made f-16s to support operations and have empowered capable battlefield commanders to step forward. as we see more progress toward assembling capable and motivated iraqi forces under baghdad's control and including sunni elements, we are willing to continue to provide a more enabling capabilities and fire support to help them suc

the syrian foreign minister with speaking to the united nations earlier, and he confirmed that syrians are ready to join working groups being set up by the eu and envoy to try to come up with proposals that could lead to a third set of peace talks. those working groups, proposals being on the table for a couple of months already, but that is news that syrians are confirming they want to join. >> on the story for us there in washington, thank you very much. russia's role in syria with a topic of discussion at peace talks in paris, although the official focus of the talks is between russia, ukraine, france, and journey on eastern ukraine. there was some sign of progress, including an agreement on pulling heavy weapons back from the front and recommitment to minsk these accords. another summit is scheduled one-month from now, a sign of progress in and of itself. >> the welcome for russian president vladimir putin was friendly, if not warm, although many fear that the recent developments in syria would overshadow the meeting, the leaders appeared to focus on ukraine. there were signs of pr

that all should be done to try and resolve the syrian civil war. secretary kerry spoke often about how dire the humanitarian situation is in syria right now and how they must continue to pursue a path toward peace. they also all spoke about how there must be a renewed effort to counterdash, and to that end secretary kerry stated that the u.s.'s approach when it comes to syria going forward is a two-pronged one. one, a renewed issue to pursue dash and to reinvigorate diplomacy. in two weeks' time there's another meeting in vee yen ya. it's not clear who will participate in the meeting and if, in fact, the syrian opposition or members of the regime of al assad will be there. there is a sense of hopefulness absent if these talks for quite a long time now. barbara. >> the latest from vienna where the meetings take place. thank you. after russian air strikes in syria that targeted opposition strongholds as well as those of isil, russia's foreign minister sought to reassure the international community that his country was not entered the conflict on al a

rebels -- training and equipment of moderate syrian rebels. it is far from having met expectations, especially as the russians, in comparison to the russian operations, which has been intensifying over the past few days. central european leaders are calling on brussels to do more to help with the ongoing flow of migrants. so far this year, more than half a million have crossed the mediterranean to europe. eritrean asylum-seekers have been relocated from italy to sweden, the first such instance in a new european scheme. reporter: the airport in northern sweden, the last stop that these 19 migrants, five long and 14 men, on their journey from eritrea. they've been rescued at sea over recent weeks and registered on this island before they flew to sweden from this airport in rome. the group hope to claim asylum and start a new life in the scandinavian country. >> i want to find the opportunities i do not have in eritrea and capitalize on it by studying law. >> they know they will arrive in sweden legally on a plane without having to pay a traffick

stayed with a family, the owner of the house was a syrian rebel. spent the night there, so did a few other journalists and news extraordinary because i've seen firsthand, it's one thing to open up the "new york times" or turn on cnn and see images broadcast from thousands of miles away but you have to see it for yourself to understand what's the driving force behind this rebellion. it was amazing because at night these rebels put down their guns, picked up white gloves and garbage bags and reclaiming the rubble from the streets because the assad government was bombarding civilian infrastructure. they targeted a hospital in town so that any activist, civilians are rebels were injured or have rebooted could not be treated. these guys, it was extraordinary. they turned a mosque into a makeshift hospital. they were treating everybody, treating pro-government, militiamen and pro-government fighters equally with syrian rebels. i know that sound a little propagandistic but i saw that with my own eyes. about five to six months later account i stayed in had

including the free syrian army, zeina khodr reports. >> the syrians army says this is part of the military campaign to recapture the region. syrian military forces say the air strikes are weakening forces before a ground strike begins. i.s.i.l. is not flent this press part of the country. changing the balance of power on the ground. >> translator: we are the free syrian army, the closest syrian base is 60 cloments from here. >> the allegiance has been used. by syrian and russian governments ojustify their attacks. >> nusra is all over syria not just homs. the group has good relations with other brigades an the people because it is fighting the regime. they are using nusra's province the kill civilians and fight the operation. >> civilians have been killed in the recent strikes, only rebel controlled area in the province which is important for the gft's control. are the majority have hit antigovernment rebels who were advancing towards the state control latakia problems of. syrian military provinces are calling that corner of syria an al qaeda-overrun being location. the u.s. considers it a

crisis, and that is the fate of syrian president bashar al assad. what's happening now is that russia is quite clearly seeking to take the initiative based on its military intervention in syria that began a few weeks ago seeking now also to take the political initiative, and it's an open question of how long that can be sustained because it will reflect, i think, very closely the progress that they and the syrian army make on the ground in syria. >> in a surprise move jordan agreed to coordinate its military actions on syria with russia. now, this is being seen by many as a shift in the alliances engaged in the conflict. here's what the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov had to say. >> translator: an agreement has been reached forming a mechanism to coordinate actions fighting terrorism in the skies over syria on a day-to-day professional basis. >> joining us now from amman, the jordanian capital is the former deputy prime minister of jordan. good to talk to you. can you tell us why jordan has decided to extend this cooperation with russia? >> w

to thean be no solution syrian conflict without russia's help.dent assad probably did not sad t-shirtspport as with images of russian airstrikes. most russians support the bombing campaign, that is partly because of the way it is being reported. ♪ >> this is the war in syria. a russian lens. these remarkable russian tv images appear to show the syrian army trying to retake a district in damascus. and roll.rally, rock it makes what is happening in syria look like a hollywood blockbuster rather than a real war. it is easier to support a war that doesn't seem real. a tv war far from pressure's borders. abc news, moscow. -- bbc news, moscow. jane: i spoke with the former state department official that bridge, massachusetts. ambassador burns, thank you for joining me. this was obviously a high-profile meeting. ambassador burns: he convened this meeting in moscow. president assad had not traveled since 2011. president clinton had 2 messages. he would back president assad, and would work with others to prop up the syrian government and extend its area o

opposition or the syrian government would be included.e have seen some reports today in which there were members of the syrian national coalition. that's the primary opposition group in the syrian opposition in which members of that group have stated they have not been invited and they are unhappy about that. we are also not aware if anybody from bashar al-assad's regime would be present. clearly that is going to make it more difficult to effect a political solution, when you have the two primary members of the conflict not involved in these talks, but it also goes to show how much the syrian conflict has grown in that so many world powers will be here, and you will have the primary backers of the syrian opposition in the same room as the primary backers of bashar al-assad. but, yeah, that's is a glaring hole that neither side probably be here. even more concerning is if these talks have any impact on the dire humanitarian situation in syria that continues to spin out of control. sami. >> thanks so much. mohammed jamjoom there. >>> as you

many are affiliated to what is known as the free syrian army. of those people are from the area, or defected from the syrian army years ago. but there are more conservative groups as well as the al-qaeda-linked al-nusra front. all of these groups have a common goal, and that is the toppling of the syrian government, but they do not share the same ideologies, but the russian intervention in the syrian conflict as well as the air campaign, which has been targeting opposition groups on the ground united these rebels. they have now joined forces. they have created a joint operations room. now russia is calling this war against terrorism. but it doesn't shy away from the fact that isil is not the only group it is targeting. we have heard russian officials, even the president himself say that we consider many groups in syria, terrorist organizations and we have a long list of targets. if you talk those in the opposition, they believe that russia's military campaign has one aim, and that is to help the syrian government, strengthen their position milit

syrians are the largest group by nationality. most of them are hoping to reach germany, sweden, france, the united kingdom, and many ultimately the united states. i think chairman smith said it very, very well when he gave the breakdown of the numbers, and when you just look at the pictures of the people occupying the rail stations, leading transport to different destination, yes, you see women, yes, you see children. but you see an awful lot of young men of military age who are fleeing. this raises questions in the minds of the constituents i represent back in texas. why is this particular subset of the population leaving so quickly, leaving so willingly, sacrificing the safety of their loved ones that they leave behind? why aren't these individuals defending their country and giving access to women and children? the populations who may be most eligible for exploitation by the islamic state, why not give them the opportunity to lead first and to be safe? are these young men leaving to avoid conscription or worse? are they leavin

that area is protected by the syrian air defense system. we were to fly there, we would need to deal with the air defense system, which is a substantial undertaking of its own that we have -- as the chairman indicated analyzed. we certainly have capabilities to do. be interdicting both fixed wing and rotary wing aircraft that are attacking the syrian population. that however most of the civilian casualties forces onby assad's civilians have been from artillery. this would not do anything about artillery, but our airstrikes. we have analyzed it and made the recommendation to do it at this time. i respect people who are making recommendations for these kinds of zones. there are also humanitarian zones which have been referenced also. those are a portion of syria. congregatee could and be protected. zones would be contested il, so it would have to be defended. it is a substantial military undertaking. the people who live there would therefore take a ground force helping air forces to a college that -- accomplish that. the people who were prote

from day one of this unwanted conflict imposed on syrian people.e have always said that the solution of the conflict lies in political solution found through negotiations. >> reporter: this syrian child tells its crying mother, don't worry, it's just a little blood. millions of other syrians can only hope there is an end to all of the bloodshed. >>> inside syria at least three people have been killed after a dozen barrel bombs were dropped on a residential town. the u.k.-based syrian observatory for human rights says the air strikes happened on wednesday. this video was posted on the same day by the media center which alleged shows an air strike by government helicopter. it claims a woman and her son were among those killed in the raids. ♪ >>> a chinese communist party has announced the end of its controversial one-child policy. with all couples now allowed to have two children. the policy is one of the largest ever social engineering experiencements. it is estimated to have presented about 400 million births. many families were able to have more t

the syrian people's decision lies in the syrian people's hand alone and no one can strip the syrian people of this right. the syrian arab army astonished the world with its power, faith, and persistence. mr. president, the important invitation of hvladimir putin received the attention of the syrian government and its support. terrorism cannot be fought only from the air and all the previous operations to combat it have only led to its spread and outbreak. air strikes are useless unless they are conducted in cooperation with the syrian arab army, the only force in syria that is combatting terrorism. the announcement of the beginning of the russian air strikes in syria, which came upon a request from the syrian government and in coordination with the government, is in effective participation and in support of the syrian efforts in combatting terrorism. the so-called arab spring was a spring only for israel and its undercover and known allies. israel continues to attack syria while the world is watching. israel is arming the terrorists and treating them in its hospitals and helping them with

a syrian rebel group trained by the u.s. had been attacked.he white house called the russian strikes indiscriminate. hundreds of troops from iran have also been arriving in syria to fight on the side of the government. >> this is the russian airbase in syria. it is from here that russian fighter jets have been setting off on their bombing missions. moscow calls it their war on international terrorism. >> the airstrikes carried out by islamic state hit arms that those. we are preparing now, for our next exhibitions. but against to? the russians insist that their principal target has been the islamic state, yet many of the areas hit appeared to be held by other groups which opposed president assad. today, russia's foreign minister admitted that russia's target was broader than the islamic state. would specific groups in terror -- in syria do you believe to be terrorists? >> if it looks look at terrorist and asked what a terrorist and walks like a terrorist and fight like a terrorist, it is a terrorist. the representatives of the coalition comman

russia says it's ready to provide air support for the free syrian army. russia also says it wants syria to prepare for elections for its parliament and wt. within the past few minutes, the foreign minister lavrov says he and the secretary of state, john kerry discussed launching a political protest between syria's government and the opposition. joining suss the coeditor -- joining us is the co-ered tore from a middle eastern magazine and head of the special envoy to syria. thank you for talking to us at al jazeera. this seems to be a process that started at the vienna talks a couple of days soing. >> that's right. the americans, saudis and turks held a meeting at the end of the last few days and great to reconvene because of an expanded fashion, including jordan, qatar and potentially also iran, and as john kerry and sergey lavrov stated, they agreed on everything, except the issue that's been at the center of the dispute. and that is the fate of bashar al-assad. what is happening is russia is seeking to take the initiative based on military intervention,

calling the armed people to surrender to the syrian army.eems that the principle access of offensive is in aleppo. >> how would you evaluate the russian military operation in syria? we are now entering the third week that the russians have joined this fight. have they achieved what they have set out to do? >> reporter: yes, the russian air strikes, the armed opposition seemed to be effective because they hit the vital targets such as field headquarters and weaponry arsenals and gatherings of the armed people in idlib and others but the advance on the ground of army units is still slow until now. i think now the russians will accelerate the pedal and their airstrikes in order to push the -- [speaking at the same time] >> when you say accelerate the pedal is there a risk of russians will become involved in aina wider conflict and possibln the ground? >> so far the russians, declared that they do not aim to take part in any ground operations and it seems that no russian boots on the ground. and even the force -- the russian air force is a task

syrian, russian, elsewhere. armed forces are instructed. >> diplomatic language from the prime minister, but the implication was clear. russian planes could be shot down if they repeat a mistake. the language from n.a.t.o. is blunder. turkey is a member of the alliance, and they were assembled for a meeting on monday. this is an excerpt from their statement: n.a.t.o. said russian planes should stop attacking syrian opposition fighters and focus on fighting i.s.i.l., a criticism of russia's general role, not just the turkish air space incident. >> russia does not make the same distinctions as the west. while washington and allies equipped and trained groups seen as moderate alternatives to i.s.i.l., russia's leadership just views the whole lot as terrorists, and moscow says it's prepared to protect bashar al-assad from all its enemies. >> the skies above syria are crowded. u.s., turkey, saudi arabia, canada, qatar, united arab emirates, jordan and bahrain have flown sort ice. >> it's suggested cooperation with th

it consists of 41 troops including the free syrian army. we have the report from beirut >> translator: the russian military has target the countryside of homs since the first day. the syrian army says it's part of a military campaign to capture the region. they say air strikes weaken the defenses before a ground assault begins. isil is not present in this corner of syria. that's why the opposition believes russia's op active is to help the government change the balance of power on the ground. >> translator: the closest isil base is 60 kilometers from here. we are people from the area not linked to isil or others. >> reporter: many of the rebels there still fight under the banner of a free syrian army. they announced a joint military operation to confront what they call the russian aggression on theal nusra front. they say al nusra's allegiance to al qaeda is being used to justify the attacks. >> translator: nusra is all over syria, not just homs. the group has good relations with other brigades and the people because it is fighting the regi

jamal reports. >> reporter: syrian state t.v.tinues propaganda message to try and convince people that russian air strikes are targeting what the syrian and russia governments call terrorists. but the pictures on the ground tell a different story. this is what the left of the town on the outskirts of idlib after russian ware planes bombed several resident areas late on friday. it's unclear how many people were killed. and opposition fighters belonging to the army of conquest announced the capture of several villages after defeating government troops and forcing them to retreat. the alliance of opposition fighters launched what it called the battle for hama this week after capturing idlib earlier this month. [gunfire] opposition fighters also say they have taken several towns and villages in the south of aleppo province. syria's armed opposition groups say they have been targeted by russian air strikes wrath than the so called islamic state group. on friday i.s.i.l. announced it was in control of the main road connecting aleppo to