and third, we have the vienna group, 18 countries, from saudi arabia to iran, from cat tar to turkey,u.s. to russia, sitting in the same room, and in theory, and so far quite a lot in practice, discussing how to get a political solution, not a military solution in syria. >>> inside syria, the fighting largely goes on. international aid agencies are warning the u.n. security council are adding what they call fuel to the fire of syria's war. human rights organizations have put out a report which shows that 2015 was the worst of the five-year conflict. they accuse russia, france, the u.s., and britain, of supporting rival sides or direct military action. they say at least 50,000 people have been killed since april of 2014. and an extra 1.5 million people are in need of humanitarian aid. last year they delivered assistance to fewer than 4% of those living in besieged communities. and even less food. the author of the report says recent progress in syria is encouraging but is taking too long. >> the last couple of weeks has shown with the cessation of hostilities, and the delivery of assis

and three, we have the so-called vienna group. 18 countries from saudi arabia to iran, from qatar tokey, from u.s. to russia, sitting in the same room and in theory and so far quite a lot in practice, discussing how to get a political solution, not a military solution in syria. all of that is potentially good news. doesn't mean solution, but potentially it is in the right direction. >> reporter: in our interview to be broadcast on the "talk to al jazeera" program this weekend, the special envoy tells me that he is prepared to discuss the possibility of a federal option in syria, if the syrian parties agree to it, but he says partition of syria, dividing the country completely is not something that is on the table. >> reporter: and you can see the full interview with the u.n. special envoy to syria on "talk to al jazeera" at this time. >>> well, despite the cessation of hostilities, there have been reports of heavy fighting in syria between government forces and opposition fighters. at least two are reported to have died in duma. government forces also said to attacked another town, t

at the moment, some unity at the security down be krill and three we are having the so-called vienna group, 18 countries from saudi arabia to iran, from qatar to turkey, from u.s. to russia sitting in the same room and in theory and quite a lot in practice discussing how to get a political solution, not a military solution in syria. >> meanwhile, international aid agencies accused members of the u.n. security council of adding what they call fuel to the fire of syria's conflict. thirty human rights organizations are behind a reported that says that 2015 was the worst of the five year conflict. they accuse russia, the u.s., france and britain of undermining their own u.n. resolutions by supporting rival warring sides or direct military action. >>> japan has marked five years since the earthquake and tsunami that killed more than 18,000 people. a minute's silence was helped at the precise moment the quake hit, starting a chain reaction of death and destruction. harry fossett reports from one of the worst affected places. >> this is the closest thing to high ground, a mound built 96 years ago

the international syria support group, the meetings that have been taking place in vienna, the last in munich trying to save this process after the collapse of the talks in february. i can tell you there are many that questioned the role of the international community and the opposition certainly questioned the role of the russians currently one of the countries that is monitoring that cessation of hostilities because they say the russians are not really just the guarantee of this process and the monitor of the cessation. they're also one of the belligerents because their air force has been working very close, hand-in-hand with the syrian government forces >>> thank you for that update. to riyadh and a spokesman for the syrian opposition's high negotiations committee. welcome to al jazeera. in our last hour we were talking to one of your opposition colleagues out of the egyptian capital cairo. they're on message. they told us on our news hour program, they will go to geneva and indulge in the proximity talks within this 24-hour window that has been laid down by the government in damasc

russia has cooperated with the united states and the syria international support group and the vienna process and now in an effort to triey to fight agains daesh. >> we need to go to mr. ted deutsche of florida. >> -- it's not -- the point i'm trying to make is it doesn't lend itself to just a one judgment. this is more complicated and for better or worse more nuanced th than some of these conclusions allow for. >> mr. ted deutsche of florida. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, mr. secretary, thanks for being here. thanks for your service to our country. mr. secretary, i had the pleasure this morning of spending some time with ami amir hekmati. it's wonderful to see and am thrilled for the families, but i want to urge you to continue to press with the utmost, greatest sense of commitment and urgency to bring bob home to his family. i'm grateful for you're raising this issue. i just urge you in the strongest way to really continue to push. i'd like to talk about the iran agreement. without making judgments about whether it's the greatest achievement ever or the worst thing that's e

group: built for better health. >>> 6:11, and we're tracking the morning commute, as many of you are left without a ride on metrorail. stations like this one if vienna, still busy this morning, as riders head for the buses instead of the we're also watching traffic on the roads. >> melissa mollet is here by what you need to know before you head out the door. >> metro running fine, metrorail obviously shut down today. you cannot get around on the metrorail, we do have metrobus running. i just talked to a friend riding marc from the rockville station saying that train was not full. we do have extra trains there. as far as travel times 270 looking good southbound from germantown to the spur. 95 to the beltway there. no major issues, 66 inbound and also lacking on time today. chuck. >> okay, thanks, melissa. outside this morning, dealing with locally thick fog especially for our friends and neighbors in the snd gaithersburg, only three miles. half-mile visibility in leesburg and winchester, quarter mile from frederick. take a look at the morning commute, fog in the morning, and sun up, top down this morning. be on the lookout for a passing shower from 4