the message to trump is, get the foreign fighters out of syria. , afghanis, iranians, not syrians. and on the other side there are jihadi foreigners, and we want them out of the country. this is what the international community needs to help — the reasonable syrians to achieve in the coming weeks and months. at least then we can have the ground for a political settlement, yes. we don't have much time left, and i want you to reflect on the six years that have brought us here. you've been actively involved with the opposition throughout pretty much that entire six—year period, and here we are with russia in the ascendancy, with the americans basically opted out and donald trump singing it in a way which doesn't sound like it will soon be very well, and on the ground the opposition forces defeated in aleppo and on the defensive in the pockets of territory they still retain, is it time for you to quit, for the opposition to say, we tried, we failed, the country has been ruined and the best thing now is to walk away and accept defeat because that is the

the country. they haven't left syria since the start of the war.ek to go before the tour, they still don't know if they will get permission to travel. getting 30 people out of syria is a huge logistical challenge for the concert organisers, which has taken six months of negotiation. it was very, very, very difficult, just communicating with people in syria, getting the visas. they had to go to beirut to get visas, then there were all sorts of hiccups along the way, suspicions of what we were doing. there were fears over whether people would stay over. at every level it was complicated. the first stop of the tour is amsterdam, and it's a nervous wait to see who will arrive. some musicians did not get permission to travel, and others were only issued with visas at the last minute. at last, they are here, and the years of separation are over. finally, the orchestra can start playing together. the reunited orchestra contains members from across the political and religious spectrum. what was interesting about syria before the revolution was the way that

the message to trump is get the foreign fighters out of syria. nians, they are not syrians, and on the other side, there are jihadis who are foreigners and we want them out of the country. this is what the international community needs to help the reasonable syrians in order to achieve the coming weeks and months. that's when we can have the ground for a political settlement. we don't have much time left, and i just want you now to reflect on the six years that have brought us here. you have been actively involved with the opposition throughout pretty much that entire six—year period and here we are with russia in the ascendancy, with the americans opted out and with donald trump singing a tune that doesn't sound like it is going to suit you very well, and on the ground, the opposition forces, defeated in aleppo and on the defensive in those pockets of territory they still retain. is it time for you to quit, for the opposition to say, we tried, we failed, the country has been ruined, and the best thing now is to walk away and accept defeat because

and many of the musicians have been forced to flee syria. story of an attempt to bring the orchestra back together for a once—in—a—lifetime tour, in the hope of changing the world's perspective of this nation. since the beginning of the war in syria, an estimated 9 million people have fled their homes in search of a new life. one of them is issam. he claimed asylum in america in 2013 after being invited to teach music in a university here. i watch bombs, i watch all kind of military issues, and nobody knows when the bomb will come. did you know people have been killed 7 a lot, you know, a lot of my friends, a lot of relatives as well. his father and sisters are still living in damascus. he hasn't seen them since he left. syria, what does syria mean for me, actually, family, you know? hopefully this will be, like, a bad dream, maybe, and to have a better life, so... accent. before the war, he, his sisters and brother all played in the syrian national 0rchestra for arabic music. issam took over the orchestra in 2003 and conducted them for ten y

with what needs to happen on the ground in orderfor syria to with what needs to happen on the ground ul settlement. on one point of detail, yesterday a coalition of 12 or so detail, yesterday a coalition of 12 orso anti— detail, yesterday a coalition of 12 or so anti— assad forces on the ground said they were going to reject any further diplomacy under the russian tent because of what they described as systematic violations of the ceasefire agreement by assad forces on the ground. if that your position as well or you prepared to say that the ceasefire is holding in a satisfactory way? unfortunately the ceasefire is not holding. these groups are the ones who signed with russia and russia signed on behalf of the regime, an agreement for cessation of hostilities. the groups by dead and the syrian regime not abiding. what the groups are asking is for our russia to get the assad regime to behave, comply and enforce the cessation of hostilities. if it is credible, a political agreement can happen. these groups are willing to go toa can happen. these groups are willing to go to a stunner, th

and i think the fact that the war in syria over the region and not just syria and mean you look as well and it is a step back for the efforts of the democratization and liberalization in the region, but, i mean, on iran specifically i think it is a fascinating experiment, that coming from lebanon, again that hezbollah would actually now is in occupying force, for example in syria. despite always hear in washington, no, it's not a quote unquote pure resistance force against isis and i don't know how we actually can get out on this now because this has become the new status quo and the arguments you hear repeatedly it dc on governance, you know, human rights, but how does this remotely resonate with what's going on on the ground in areas of conflict, i mean, do you see any hope for a push for better governance in the region anytime soon? guest: again, i think it depends on the country, i mean, i think in behrain, probably not because the mainstream shia movement, they have been completely isolated from the political process. in egypt, you know, there is a very repres

i think in the case of syria, it is like most uprisings. what is important i think it is to talk about the similarities. because if you look at bharain, syria, egypt, the uprising started all with the same goal. which was to oust dictators. in bharain it wasn't necessarily regime change, it was to create a constitutional monarchy. what just something to different but nonetheless to improve the current form of government.and so they all began that way. but unfortunately after a short bit of time, all of the uprisings sort of deteriorate and get into conflict about religion, politics, conflicts among the sunnis, you know extremists against more i hate use the word moderate but, within their tradition. you know how islam is going to be practiced. i think the moment for me when i knew this was going to be something significant and different and violent was when i was in egypt right after president morsi has been elected. and i was interviewing in cairo. he said to me our goal has nothing to do with changing the egyptian government. we are glad t

>> i think there's a noticeable out -- absence from the united states in syria. part of it with iran and the ground troops and then russia providing airpower. i think it does have a political outcome of the syrian crisis and we need to have a military state. russia, turkey and iran have been absent are the three biggest absurd -- actors to date. even though we have news today, he invited the trump administration to the talks on january 23. iran seems to be kicking and screaming about it. do all of the partners have the same stance of the united states and wellpoint to bring in the u.s. is yet to the u.s. will be brought in at some point. >> do we have any indication from the trump administration about the region? >> i think those are big unknowns. sure, we feel that a u.s. wilderness to be part of that -- willingness to be part of the talks and will make things less awkward for turkey. we have to remember that turkey is not only a long-term bilateral partner for u.s., but also a long-term parter for nato. it will make things much less is one of thekey biggest nato

certainly the message to the region is that you can't solve syria without us. you can't solve iraq without us. and now yemen, you can't solve without us. so, the impact of the agreement of the arab golf states delayed iran as a nuclear power but in every other way took it out of the box and it's become a much more influential, much more of a player that they have to contend with. so, in terms of where we are today, i think the situation in syria and probably the incoming of the trump administration are probably playing a constructive role in that the region is waking up for different reasons and thinking about why they have to talk. i think from the arab side and the saudi side in particular the fall of aleppo is huge. i think it's a wakeup call. you're not going to solve syria without talking to iran. on the other hand, i think the iranians are concerned -- >> am i understanding what you said the saudis are now understanding after the fall of aleppo they can't move forward without talking to iran? >> i think they see the importance of at least responding to man

and i think that trauma effect that the war in syria had over the region -- not just syria. you look at libya as well. it is a step back for the efforts of democracyization and the liberalization in the region. but on iran specifically it's i think a fascinating experience, experiment to watch, that coming from lebanon, again, that hezbollah would be actually now an occupying force for in syria, that the -- in iraq, despite what we hear in washington, it's not a quote-unquote pure resist cities force against isis and i don't know how we actually can get out of this now because this has become the new status quo and the argument you hear repeatedfully d.c. on governance, on human rights, but how are you going to -- how does that remotely resonate with what is going on the ground in areas of conflict. do you see any hope for a push for better governance in region anytime soon? >> guest: again issue think it dependings on the done country itch think that in bahrain, probably not, because the mainstream shia mom -- has been completely isolated from the political process. in egypt

and the second one is for syria. do you think that perhaps part of the talks of your prime minister with president trump would be possible you say in syria in terms of there will be a rapprochement between u.s. and russia on syria and cooperation? will you have, do you think, and is it in your interest to have a part, to s have a say on the future solutions in syria? also in terms of pushing back iran from syria. thank you. >> yeah? >> i have a general question about the strategic importance of the middle east. there are different reports, studies that indicate that oil will run out for the middle east in the next 30 years. what implications do you think that has for israel in general for the importance of the middle east on the world scene? >> okay. all right. so good. we're going to allow the -- our panelists here to respond to these three sets of questions and conclude. to recap, if i have this correctly, hilal's question is to what extent if you could articulate what an interim agreement would look like and contra

day two of the syria peace talks have come to an end. have a new deal on how the current ceasefire in syria is being enforced. this is what we heard earlier. there has been a declaration by three of the most powerful players in syria, russia, turkey and iran. they have committed themselves to working together. not just working together, but setting up just working together, but setting upa kind just working together, but setting up a kind of a monitoring mechanism to ensure that a three—week—old ceasefire in syria sticks this time. that is significant, because two ceasefi res last that is significant, because two ceasefires last year broke down because there was an engagement by the outside powers and there wasn't a way to actually observe and to supervise the ceasefire. this is a step forward. but, this is serious, so step forward. but, this is serious, so it is still tough. the opposition said the sceptical. they don't want iran to be part of this process. they blame iran iranian backed militias for violating the ceasefire and are stil

there are three aspects of the our organization in syria. the second concerns the continuing use of toxic chemical weapons and the third is about .eaching and understanding the first object is mainly the elimination of -- program. there can be no doubt about the fact that in the midst of a widespread civil war, the syrian chemical weapons post a serious populationhe general and in the event of loss of control, the situation could have led to a wider regional attack. there have been reports of these of chemical weapons in 2013 in syria. investigation confirmed the suburb of gas in a damascus that killed 1400 people. such attacks led to a looming international crisis in the wake of calls to action. the framework document was letting the grounds for illuminating syrian chemical weapons program. this was concluded in a few days and we all knew that this would not have happened if we do not have the nunn-lugar experience in the past. the cake elements -- the key elements of the framework for specialovided procedures for the expeditious illuminatio

upcoming elections, brexit, the conflict in syria. er this next 100 days, we will be looking at all of that and how the america first policy will re—shape relations around the world. but let's start here in washington. in this past half hour, sean spicer, president's trump's spokesperson, has been speaking to the white house press corp. 0ur washington reporter anthony zurcher is with us. i was listening to the beginning of the press conference. it sounded like a remarkably normal press conference? it was. this came off the hills of saturday where sean spicer stood up and be raided the press further coverage of the inauguration. today, he said he would not be as popular as his predecessor, but then he took questions from the media. the first questions from the media. the first question he took was on the wall and the promise to begin building the wall. this was a serious priority of his throughout the campaign. he is starting to work with congress on the appropriations avenue. he is doing everything he can to commence with that as soon

about syria, the last remark, as itamar said we're very cautious about doing anything in syria. we only made some red lines concerning the fact we don't want to see smuggling of state-of-the-art weapons from iran through syria to the hezbollah because it is going to make them more motivate, freed from the -- lebanon to provoke israel to again be the aggressor, and we don't want this to happen, other round of violence. another interest of us is, as was mentioned before to present the implement or the syrian-iranian-hezbollah front to use the syrian goal in order to take israel into israel, build the infrastructure of terrorism cell in the golan heights, taking advantage of the fact that it is now no man's land there. so we did have to take actions several times. we prevented it from happening. we intercepted, and since then we see that this strategy was put aside and we hope it's going to be the situation in the future. thank you. >> i want to thank our panelists and john me in thanking them for a very wide-ranging discussion and i'm sure as the new administration here takes shape

the plan. it is necessary to destroy isil in iraq and syria. cause that is necessary to destroy both the fact and the idea that there could be an islamic state based upon this ideology. it is necessary. it is not sufficient because we have to operate against them in other places in the world. of isil arise. our top priority is external operators. that is people who were plotting attacks on western countries. that we are killing those people as they are nesting up. charlie: that is ratcheting up and they lose territory in iraq and syria. that is the only means they have? sec. carter: they are constantly trying to do more in that area. as they lose their territory, is going to be harder for them to plan and coordinate complicated attacks. that is good. and the narrative that fuels the inspired attacker as opposed to the organized attacker -- organized attackers will have less of a base and a free territory to operate from. that is a good thing. when the islamic state is so obviously destroyed, it means that those who -- the person on the internet

adding to the context of our work in syria, is the question syrians weapons program. a team of experts called the declaration assessment team has been involved with syria in their efforts to clarify several outstanding issues. the purpose was to arrive at a declaration that will be regarded as complete and accurate. i have continued to underscore this matter to bring it to a closure. i have also urged the syrian republic to declare all parts of of the syrian scientific research center in damascus as relevant to the chemical weapons. in accordance with the decision, they will be required to conduct additional inspections. these will cover the facilities. futureords now about the of the office. next year, the organization will complete 20 years of operation. there is much that has been accomplished to make this a congressman worthy of celebration. the experience has assisted us in developing its inspection regime. despite the risks and challenges, our work extends out as one of the most important assignments that the organization has successfully undertaken and continue

about syria, the last remark is that as they put it, we were very cautious about remaining with syriae only made some red lines concerning the state that we don't want to see the art of weapons from iraq through syria to the heads of has bullock and making them more motivated whatever they will be freed from 11 to again provoke israel to begin being the aggressor and we don't want this to happen in other grounds of violence. another interesting part is this session to present the syrian iranian has bullock friends to use the syrian golan heights in order to make israel infiltrate injuries and build an infrastructure of terrorism in the golan heights, taking advantage of the extent that it is a no man's land there. but we do think several times , we say that it will happen and we intercepted. it's then stated the strategy was put aside and we hope that there will be a better administration in the future. >> i want to thank our panelists and i hope you join me in thanking them for a very wide ranging discussion and i'm sure as the new in ministration here takes shape in washington and p

right, so you went to antakya in turkey, on the border with syria. ree syrians there who told you they were fixers for the media and that they could help you get into syria, and indeed you went in with them. yes. what did you find convincing about them, what did they say to you? you know, i was so in my own little world at the time, that i wasn't even interested in their credentials. i just thought, these are people that are... i can't trust any of them is what i thought. so i said why not trust you guys, let's go. also, they offered me a trip into syria for $0. i was so poor at the time, i was, like $0, that's my price, i'll go with you guys. so you went in with them. shortly after arriving in syria they said to you, we are from al-qaeda or the nusra front... no, no, shortly after arriving in syria, firstly i slept one night in the same abandoned house as them and then the next morning we got up, went to binnish, which is where james foley and john cantlie were kidnapped a month later. it was a very dangerous little town. we drove through this town,

that is the right approach to syria. that is the one we have taken. the right approach to iso-his military destruction and we have taken that. ♪ charlie: you have just said this il.r we will destroy is this year. no alternative that you thought was possible? sec. carter: what we are doing against isil, absolutely not. we had to do everything we possibly could. we added every ingredient we possibly could, every accelerant to the campaign to destroy isil. that is about protecting our people, charlie. and at the end of the day, that is the most important responsibility of the department of defense, is to protect our people. that necessitated the focus we have had on isil and we are on the path to meeting our objective there. that has been job one me and job one for us. charlie: a massive question and i have asked it more than once. when you look at what happened to aleppo and the destruction of syria from the civil war, it is such a tragedy. it, is there any sense on your part that may be else we could do that we did not do? or we did not do it in time?

now to the red line with respect to syria. e president of the united states never, ever retreated from his position that he was going to strike. he announced that he would strike, he announced we would take action, and he went to congress to ask congress for permission to do that. cameron,at after david prime minister of britain, had gone to parliament and been turned down. i was on a telephone call with congressmen, many of whom were saying, you have to come to us. the president decided to go to congress. in the intervening time will congress was deliberating, and congress became far more difficult to persuade than anybody thought they would be, but while that have, i was asked at a press conference in london, is there any way that assad could avoid being bombed? and i said declaratively, yes. you could get all the chemical weapons out of syria. called minister lavrov it within a couple hours and said, i heard what you said in london. we need to work on that. president obama and president putin had talked about it. we went to

translation: we must seek to reconcile and restore the good spirit to syria. od to overwhelm us and the crisis to end. translation: i wish for the end of violence and hope the ceasefire will hold and be successful. over the course of the conflict in syria more than 300,000 people have been killed, 11 million displaced, many are approaching these talks with optimism, hoping to give this peaceful path of chance. our chief international correspondent lyse doucet reports on why astana was chosen as a place to host the latest negotiations. this is kazakhstan. at the start of a new year, another new effort to try to resolve the syrian crisis. and we have come to the foreign ministry here to meet the deputy foreign minister, roman vasilenko, to find out why it should be the capital of kazakhstan, astana, as they call it here, that should be hosting this new round of talks. why do you want to be hosting such a difficult round of negotiations? well, astana was chosen as a platform to host these talks because kazakhstan is objective and neutral, and kazakhstan has built

they want to continue the battles in syria. this at least has the hope of starting a process. ere is also a parallel war in syria, which is across the so-called islamic state. that is where president trump is likely to join the battle. he said repeatedly that is going to be the priority for his administration. katty: negotiations like this, having the military on hand gives you the upper hand at the negotiating table. is it the feeling that the syrian rebels are on the back foot and cannot make strong demands anymore? the rebel leaders who are here are making it absolutely clear this is not surrender. they did lose their last major urban stronghold last year when they lost the battle for aleppo, but there are still areas of syria where the rebel forces are still operating. they still have their key demands, most of all that a future political order in syria has to be in order that is not ruled by president assad. these are areas where russia and turkey do not agree. there are still some contentious issues that could make this all unravel. there, is a real sense when you talk to

korea as the biggest threat x neck >> it's a threat to the actual existence of san francisco. syria is an issue but it's not a threat to the lives of a million americans. this regime is completely unpredictable. our inability to predict nuclear stuff is terrible. we did not predict the russians

we have rolled back the gains isil has made in iraq and syria. e taken out many of the senior leaders. as we are seeing in mosul and we thatsoon see in rocca, campaign is making critical progress. that serves directly our interests because there are people in iraq and syria plotting to attack the united states and our european partners and others. that is where we need to engage. a choice to involve ourselves in would havecivil war been a world of choice and one in which our direct interests and the president's judgment, and my judgment, were not implicated to the extent that a warrant to the loss of american life. charlie: failure of negotiations between russia and the united states so far, in order to find some alternative to bashar al-assad? susan: whether or not the united states had chosen to intervene in syria -- militarily in the civil war. charlie: you have intervened. susan: what i'm talking about is theher we got involved in way you just described russia got involved. we have not. i think that was the right choice. will have always neede

the administration's argument for inaction in syria is doing some of the things phillip suggested wouldd to greater violence, more extremism, greater radicalization and a worse humanitarian situation in syria. however, there are consequences to inaction as well and the inaction that we saw i think has led to a catastrophic situation, half a million people killed, eleven million people displaced, a migration crisis that is overwhelming the institutions of europe, our closest allies, and i agree with general petraeus, i think in retrospect when people judge this administration, it will be seen as the biggest stain on this administration's record. >> i think that surmt of the consequences of inaction is fair and accurate. no one involved with this policy would disagree that the consequences of the road traveled were poor, but, again, we have to be careful not to assume that the alternative course of action, using military force, for example, would have had led to a better set of circumstances. it would be different circumstances. >> i do think we have to be a little careful not to say it w

>> the war in syria is about to be six year old. 400,000 people have been killed. within the conflict there are 5 million refugee and six million displaced. half have been made homeless because of the war. it has been going on for years. a lot of the refugees are hanging out trying to figure out what the status would be. they are here in turkey where 3 million refugees. it's cold. some of thechl are living in parks. others are sleeping in garages and warehouse spaces. the u.s. has only taken in about 18,0 18,000 refugee and has the extreme vetting process at all. the 18,000 who made it have the lucky syrian refugee. that would be a dream because it comes with a resettlement package, once they get here, they get some access to education and health care but not a complete resettlement package. that dream is now being -- if not taken off the table being made more difficult. >> i have been there. i have travelled to iraq. what struck me was that the people were stateless. they had no identification, no birth certificate. no pictures. no nothing. they whole identify had

now to the red line with respect to syria. the president of the united states, barack obama, never ever retreated from his position that he was going to strike. he announced that he would strike, he announced we were going to take action, and he went to congress to ask congress for the permission to do that. he did that after david cameron, prime minister of britain, had gone to parliament and been turned down, and i was on a telephone call with about 100 congressmen, i think some senators, but definitely congressmen, i remember, many of whom were saying you've got to come to us, we need to be part of this. so the president decided to go to congress. now, in the intervening time when congress was deliberating -- and, by the way, congress became far more difficult to persuade than anybody thought they would be -- but while that happened i was asked at the press conference in london is there any way that assad could avoid being bombed? and i said declaratively, yes, he could get all the chemical weapons out of syria. foreign mini

it is not t going to end the bloodshed in syria. o far, the military opposition groups who are in syria have suspended the participation and the kazakhstan negotiations because they have not seen the cease-fire being respecteted by the governrnment side. until l we reay seea complete cease-fifire, complete cessation of hostililities, as they call t in other termsms -- unless we se that, i don't think military groups will agree to go to kazakhstan for peace talks. the war in this case will continue. sarah: government forces have recaptured aleppo and some rebel groups did agree to a truce following that the moment. has the tide in the syrian conflict tururd in presisident bash al-asassad's fafavor? hashis is something that been evident over the p past few months. yes,s, in a number of ways the regime has been gaining ground. but you have to remember this is not just the regime is it -- that is advancing on the ground. it is the regime and iranian-supported militias and foforeign mimilitias thatt are,o some syria,, occupyiying forces.

on the international syria support group, we initiated that. we got russia and iran at the table with saudi arabia, with turkeywith the uae, with . it was hard. we came up with a formula for resolving the problem with syria. lavrov and i negotiated a cease-fire. unfortunately, that cease-fire -- notd a period unfortunately that are required, but it required a period of calm, and five days into it, we accidentally bombed 70 syrian troops, and the russians .elieved we were not serious on the weekend, the humanitarian trucks got bombed, and the things fell apart, but it's not because we were not reading and trying to get to the watering hole, folks, but as the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water. you cannot make it drink. ms. woodruff: you touched on just about every place i was going to ask about, so thank you. well, i have a: lot more in reserve. ms. woodruff: before we go to the audience, what are you absolutely confident most endures that this administration has done globally on the world stage, and what are you most worried about? s

the existing world order. she cited ukraine, crimea, and syria. that's interesting. eaking the rules and tearing down the existing world order. is that what vladimir putin wants to do? susan: i don't know that that is an accurate reflection of his intent. he's trying to bend the rules of the world order. i think he is certainly trying to manipulate the rules to his benefit. his invasion of ukraine, annexation of crimea, was a blatant violation of international rules. he did so to advantage his own interests. at the same time as he's doing that, he purports to uphold international law by virtue of his role as a member of the security council. there's a duality there. when it's convenient for russia, in the present, they are violating international rules to cement their appropriate points -- international rules. samantha appropriately points to syria. as another example. in other instances, it tries to wag its finger and beauty champion of the so-called international rules and norms. it is a dishonest game, a manipulative one. it's all about serving what he believes to

the chemistry with the russian leader putin was no better, crimea, cyber espionage and syria left themeaking. the pledge at the start of his presidency was all about disengaging from costly conflict and bringing the troops back home. we can say to those families who have lost loved ones to al-qaeda's terror, justice has been done. but the optimism brought by the successful raid to kill 0sama bin ladin in 2011 and the spread of the arab spring... would eventually be replaced by a middle east in flames. and the rise of so—called islamic state, the fight against which remains unfinished business. arguably, the low point for president obama in the middle east has been syria, which has been a humanitarian catastrophe, sparking the worst refugee crisis since world war ii. and the president's failure to act against president assad despite much huffing and puffing, has come back to haunt him. a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilise. that would change my calculus. but nothing happened, no action. i think it was a mistake not to enfor

before the civil war in syria, it had a population of 80,000. n the refugees arrived, that figure doubled. the town was completely unprepared. basic services like waste collection are overwhelmed. mafraq was suddenly strewn with trash, and people blamed the newcomers. that's one reason the job initiative has focused on garbage disposal. but the jordanian government insisted that the german-financed project also employ locals. so now, half of ahmad's colleagues are jordanians. >> i applied for this job three times but was rejected because they only took syrians. thank god, someone began to think of us. >> jordan is struggling to accomodate 1.4 million refugees from syria. the jordanian king, the government, and aid organizations alike insist that more funding from abroad is desperately needed. many of the aiaid projects here are not designed for the long term. nonetheless, ahmad hopes he can keep cleaning the streets of mafraq. once, he had ambitious plans for his sons, who studied in syria. but for now, they will also apply to work herere as stre