>> this week on "quadriga," war in syria, is putin winning? forces loyal to assad are on the advance. inroads making major into rebel territory. the battle for aleppo could create facts on the ground ahead of peace talks. a new wave of refugees is fleeing what was once serious second-largest city. another humanitarian catastrophe is looming, and the left keeps struggling to come up with a coherent strategy. 's air campaign tip the balance in the war? from berlin, "quadriga." the international debate. your host, monday crane -- melinda crane. melinda: hello and welcome. what exactly are russia's motives in syria, and what can turn the situation around? that's what we want to talk about today on "quadriga," with three people following events very closely. we welcome a freelance journalist and expert on syrian affairs, who reports regularly on syria. as lies the left doesn't do something about the reasons for flight in syria, including the bombing attacks, it will continue to pay for the humanitarian tragedy putin that -- that within and aside are creating. we welcome alan pozen

? the united states, rid russia and others involved in syria's war have agreed to implement a, quote, cessation of hostilities, end quote. that after diplomats met in munich to restart peace talks. sending a hopeful note, staffan de mistura said, quote, sustained delivery of assistance is expected to begin this week to besieged areas where civilians are in desperate need of assistance, end quote. in the meantime the fighting continues and some of the most desperate areas out there are rebel controlled pockets, that are under government seeng. siege. with russian help and air support, tightened a noose around rebel controlled parts of aleppo. the army is close to cutting off the last rebel supply line into syria's largest city. confusingly, the army is also guesting help from syria's kurdish militias which just seized the military base from the russians, which according to secretary of state john kerry will not be part of this cessation of hostilities. confusing or not the momentum in syria's war has now swung decisively in bashar al-assad's favor. and the syrian president has vladimi

>>> what's called a cessation of hostilities is supposed to begin saturday morning in syria. people are still shooting at each other now and lobbing loaded accusation. russia says the u.s. is trying to put a halt. russia u.s. is firing back that russia is already doing it. it's ready, aim and fire at inside story >>> welcome to inside story. in syria you can't keep track of the players even with a score card. there are so many of them shifting alliances cricketry war aims - contradikt ry war aims. many countries, i.s.i.l., at this late date even with much of syria in ruins and hundreds of thousands dead, it is hard to imagine an outcome that would allow the warring parties to disengage rather than wait for a resolution, masses of syrians fleeing for their life have now headed north an west, further internationalising the refugee crisis which has long burdened syria's neighbours. through weeks of bloody fighting and a human surge tide out of syria, does the promise to ceasefire carry hopes of at least a pause. a breather. al jazeera's omar alsalah reports from southern turkey. >> rep

. turkey continues attacks on kurdish fighters inside syria hours after the u.s. asked ankara to stop. the death of the conservative supreme court justice overshadows a heated debate between republican presidential hopefuls. why more and more women and children are being killed in afghanistan. hope for a return to peace as voting begins in the car to elect a new leader. find out which films and actors are looking to score big this year in the baftas >>> first, turkey has shelled parts of northern syria for a second day. now, these are the latest pictures from outside the town of meneg. that's where rebels have been pushed out from a former military air base. ar car awants the fighters to withdraw from areas that are close to turkey's border - ankara. the u.s. has urged turkey to stop the military strikes around the city of azaz. saudi arabia military personnel and it's have arrived at the turkish air base. the base is used by the u.s. led coalition in the fight against i.s.i.l. >> translation: the latest deployments when it comes to the land forces or increasing our air campaign empha

form at to dig into a media story in syria. >> the date line that is mon op liesing the coverage is aleppo. half the city is in government forms. government forces are advancing. and the united nations. 300,000 could be victims. siege, cut off by food supplies and humanitarian aid. after four years of fighting, failed diplomacy and a propaganda war, there's fatigue in the world on the part of journalist and news consumers. this is not getting old, it's getting worse. >> before getting to complexities, we want to start where we end. a video that has gone viral. drone footage. the city of palms. it was the capital of the resolution, it's been a battle ground and has the scars to prove it. in is affiliated with the russian broadcaster. after it was posted the footage reposted by channel four news saying the destruction was caused by pro-government trying to take back. russia focused on the extremist pictures of the opposition forces. that is a small example of how differently this story is told, depending on who is telling it. the degree of destruction is shocking. aleppo could be left

with the fighting >>> ready, aim, stop firing, catching up with the latest in syria's bloody civil war. joining me for that conversation is ambassador, director of government relations and vice president for policy and research at the middle east institute. a cessation of hostilities. they don't want to call it a ceasefire any more, that doesn't include some of the parties who are doing much of the fighting. does it mean anything? is it worth? >> just like a lot of syrians i'm sceptical. there is a basic fundamental problem of this. who enforces the regime that is party responsible for the overwhelming majority of this in syria to observe the ceasefire. if the rebels violate the ceasefire they will be bombed so they have an incentive to observe the ceasefire. who will compel the regime to comply with the ceasefire? russia? they have a game plan in syria is to prop up the bashar al-assad regime. they're now also aiding and abetting the bashar al-assad regime in the military campaign. they're responsible for the killing that has happened in the country. u.n., the u.n. said that they

is ready to send ground troops to syria to participate in any operation by the u.s. led coalition. i'm barbara and you are watching al jazeera live from london and also coming up, on the program italy summons the ambassador after a student disappeared turns up dead in cairo showing signs of torture. sweden says a u.n. panel decided that the founder assange is unlawfully detained in a london embassy. and scuffles in athens as greeks have the pressure of prime minister with a nationwide walk out over cuts. ♪ thank you for joining us we begin the program in syria where there have been two developing stories, in the last hour saudi arabia said it's ready to send ground troops to syria to take part in an operation by the u.s. led coalition against the islamic state of iraq and levante as tens of thousands are fleeing aleppo countryside and on the move after a three-day offensive by the syrian government which according to turkey's prime minister was backed by more than 300 russian air strikes, hundreds of families are screaming to the turkish border and urging authorities to let them

ceasefire negotiations with rebel groups in syria. it follows an agreement between russia and the u.s. for cessation of hostilities that is set to begin on saturday. let's bring in james bayes at the united nations in new york. james what more do you know? >> reporter: well, this is happening at the same time as other things are happening here at the united nations. and what i think they are try doing is put all of the pieces in place to try to give this idea of a cessation of hostilities the best chance it could have. i can tell you the other very important development in the past few minutes news from the united nations, an announcement to the u.n. security council that for the first time, the u.n. has air dropped aid to daraa, the place where they can't get aid in by land, because it is effectively besieged by isil. 21 tons of aid have been delivered to daraa. that is an important development. but also at the same meeting, we have stringing criticism of the syrian government from steven o'brien, the humanitarian chief of the united nations, who said that they put in place lots

>> >>> moving with urgency. a task force in syria to meet hours after a world powers agree on a pause in fighting within a week. welcome to al jazeera. also on the program hillary clinton takes on democratic rival bernie sanders in their first one-on-one debate since clinton lost the new hampshire primary. farmers in greece threaten to ride all the way to the parliament. we will tell you what they're angry about. plus. >> reporter: i'm in south africa where four white farmers are being accused of killing two black farm workers. find out why the trial is causing so much tension >>> a u.n. task force on syria will meet in the next three hours after world powers agreed to end the fighting in late night talks in munich. russia is continuing with the air strikes. hostilities are expected to halt in a week but i.s.i.l. and al-nusra is in included in the deal. it is hoped that supplies will be sent by air to some besieged cities as early as next week. it will be monitored. >> reporter: 19 delegations, the span sores of international peace efforts in syria gathering in an effort to get

>>> hospitals and a school hit in two separate airstrikes in northern syria, more than 21 killed and dozens injured. >>> turkey and russia in a war of words, as fighting escalates inside syria. >>> you're watching al jazeera live from doha. also coming up, a ugandan opposition leader running for penalty is arrested while campaigning in the capitol. >>> i'm in stoke home, sweden where aid workers and officials are struggle to figure out how to best help child refugees and migrants who have arrived here alone in the past year. >>> hello, we begin with a series of airstrikes across syria with the majority taking operation close to its northern border with turkey. in the town of azaz, 14 were killed when missiles hit a children's hospital, a school and other locations. turkey is blaming russia for the attack. doctors without borders says a clinic has been destroyed in idlib province, killing seven. the medical group said either syrian government or russian forces are responsible. in aleppo, this video apparently shows the aftermath of an air strike on the district, an entire building

convoy of aid reaches besieged villages in syria. >>> and apple says it will resist a court order demanding that it help the fbi hack into its suspect's iphone. ♪ >>> we begin this hour with breaking news coming to us from turkey, where there are reports of a powerful explosion in the capitol ankara. the news agency says the explosion happened near military lodgings. turkish police say the blast was caused by a vehicle exploding, and there are reports that a large number of people have been injured. zana hoda is in a turkish city and joins us live now. zana, what is the latest you are hearing about this? >> reporter: well, this happened just a short while ago, so the information is still sketchy. but we do know an explosion has rocked the turkish capitol. initial reports suggesting that a car bomb was responsible, and the target were military personnel in a vehicle very close to a military la lawn -- lodging this any area. there are casualties, we understand a number of wounded. this is not the first time we have seen an explosion in ankara, a new months ago there was an explosi

>> syria's president despise calls for hostility. and they vow to retake the entire country. >> hello there, i'm felicity barr, and this is al jazeera live from london. coming up, farmers' fury tractor drive their way to greece's parliament in riot against austerity measures. >>> the catholic pope meets the russian orthodox patriarch for the first time i in a millennium. >>> and doctors refuse to treat officers who are accused of attacking their colleagues. hello, syria's president has said his forces will retake the whole country, but he also said negotiations are worth pursuing. bashar al-assad's words come as russian airstrikes reportedly killed 36 people. talks in munich world leaders agree to aim for a halt in hostilities in syria within seven days as well providing humanitarian assistance. but the syrian government and opposition groups have yet to gray. and armed groups like isil an and al nusra front were not included in that deal. russia's prime minister said that the u.s. and arab partners needed to think hard about their actions in syria, saying all sides should n

the possibility of this cessation of hostilities in syria taking effect within a week. he will be personally chairing a task force, he said, along with the russian foreign minister lavrov to work out the modalities. the very complex modalities to end the fighting. at the same time he said the u.n. is ready. it has got trucks loaded up with aid ready to take in to the people, the vast numbers of people within syria who are in desperate need of basic supplies. he said they're ready to go. so this is the conference that has been taking place over the last couple of days. syria seems to have dominated it from the very start. they have concentrated somewhat on ukraine as well. he spent a little bit of time talking about the u.s. commitment to a strong europe. he mentioned that he would - that the united states would like to see brilt an in a strong-- britain in a strong e.u. i'm not sure how that went down, but nonetheless europe figured highly in his speech. ukraine also factored in. he was critical of russian saying that the minsk agreement needs to be implemented fully otherwise san

the boom times. syria's government and its allies are intensifying their major offensive around the country's largest city aleppo, government forces have captured the village of vitien, tens of thousands of people are now fleeing aleppo and amassing on the turkish border zeina khodr reports. >> the syrian government and its allies have managed to capture another town in the aleppo country side, there was fierce resistance. we still don't know if the opposition will be able to prevent the government from achieving its objective and that is to encircle the city of aleppo, that is what the government has been trying to do, the army command late on thursday saying that they're close to achieving this but they haven't been able to do so. the fighting is ongoing on the ground, civilians trapped in the conflict and many of them trying to find a safe place. the suffering is growing. tens of thousands of syrians are again on the move. those who have arrived to the turkish border are not being allowed in. these people are from the northern country side of aleppo. many of them arrived on foot.

with rush over a ceasefire for syria. >>> hello, you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, fiji struggles to restore power after hit by its strongest storm on record. >>> india deploys thousands of troops to calm protests by the community which left new delhi facing a water crisis. >>> tonight, i am suspending my campaign. the end of the line for jeb bush as he pulls out of the republican presidential race. >>> the syrian city of homs has been hit by a double car bombing. at least 46 people were killed and more than 100 others injured in one of the deadliest attacks to date in the government held city. the car bombs targeted the area of the city home to maintenance of president assad's sect. hours later, a southern suburb of damascus was hit by a number of explosions, killing at least 30 people and injuring dozens. the attacks came as government forces captured 31 villages in aleppo in the north from the so-called islamic state of iraq and the levant. u.s. secretary of state john kerry said he has reached a provisional agreement with russia object terms of a ceas

. >>> russians continue to pound areas of syria just moments after the ceasefire was announced. russia continues to provide air cover for forces loyal to syrian president bashar al-assad. under the agreement hashed out between russian foreign minister sergey lavrov, and secretary of state john kerry, the air strikes will continue but certain groups will no longer be targeted. >> to that end we have also established a task force under the auspic awmps of auspices of. >> reporter: boat sides have agreed that i.s.i.l. and the el nusra front are legitimate targets, having been designated as terrorist groups by the u.n. so any eventually ceasefire will have no effect on the air war. >> there is no fire for us to assess. we've had occasionally strikes on el nusra, those will continue because they are not party to the ceasefire. >> instead has been primary focused on rebel groups opposed tod assad regime. russia insists it's battling terrorists. so a lot rides on who is labeled a terrorist. >> translator: well, if liberation of the city that has been taken by legal armed groups can be qualified as cong

♪ deadly air strikes hit hospitals in northern syria, at least 23 people are killed, dozens are injured in two separate attacks. ♪ hello i'm marteen dennis in do what and also to come on the program. >> i'm in sweden and aid workers are struggling to figure out how to best help the refugees who arrived here in the past year. >>> uganda opposition leader running for president is arrested while campaigning in the capitol. >> they are all really excited because they never seen a kenya girl. >> reporter: plus we meet one of the coolest sports stars and setting her sights higher. ♪ let's start with the attacks that are being reported across syria taking part in the northwestern border with turkey and doctors without borders is reporting that a medical clinic has been destroyed in the province of idlib, nine people including a child killed in that attack and in a separate attack this time in the town of azaz at least 14 civilians were killed when missiles hit a children's hospital and a school as well as other locations and in aleppo this video apparently showing the aftermath of

the ongoing genocide taking place in syria have now been -- quote -- "suspended." i quote from this morning's "washington post": "syrian peace talks are suspended before they even really began." they should surprise no one. the fact is that the situation on the ground, thanks to our total lack of a coherent strategy or even a serious effort, have resulted in the russian airstrikes ensuring bashar assad's continued strength along with the iranians, along with hezbollah that the iranians have brought in from lebanon, have given the overwhelming majority position to bashar assad, who is not about to leave office with the advantage that he has now attained in the battlefield, to a large degree because of russian airstrikes that were relentless and that have mostly targeted the opposition to bashar assad's rule. and those airstrikes, according to "the washington post," have proved sufficient to push beyond doubt any likely halihood that d will be removed from power. the gains on the ground are also calling into question whether there can be meaningful negotiations to end the conflict ass

and a school hit in two separate airstrikes in syria killing more than 21 people. >>> turkey and russia in a war of words as fighting escalates inside syria. plus... >> i'm in sweden where aid workers and officials are struggling what to do to help migrants who arrived alone last year. >> the center is protested in australia. >>> and in mexico where the pope is heading south to one of the poorest parts of the country. ♪ >> hello a series of airstrikes across syria has left more than 21 people dead. dozens more are injured. three hospitals and a school are among the buildings' bombed. turkey is blaming russia for one of the attacks. we're following events on turk turkey's border in syria. here are the reports. >> reporter: there is no red line in syria's war. that seems to be the attack where a school, a hospital, and other buildings were hit. among the casualties were recently displaced syrians who escaped the fighting across aleppo province. turkey has called azaz a red line and vowed to not allow the town to fall not only because it is being held by the opposition but it is b

the rules of engagement am a isis controlled oil installations in syria have been finally boned -- bombed, which is good. but these gains have been's too slow to come. it draws recruits to plot new attacks abroad, including the united states. meanwhile, the iraqi government haven't been able to deliver as it should. key to any success, do not trust baghdad as they have failed to include them in the government and the armed forces in a meaningful way. and across the region, the u.s. is perceived -- the perception there is we are only willing to back non-sunnis. this only empowers isis and militarily the size of the recently announced special operations force to target isis leadership is a fraction of what past efforts have entailed. onlyirstrikes are still averaging 23 a day, a fraction of what a serious air campaign looks like. libya,failed state of where militants don't face a threat from the air, isis has doubled in size. these 6000 fighters are several hundred miles from europe. they have their sights on libya's oil, a tactic which made it the world's richest terrorist group,

the oil output of isis, turkey's efforts to reduce its border with syria, the andnitarian situation, other countries in the region 80 in the conflict. -- aiding in the conflict. this is just over two hours. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016] mr. royce: alright, this hearing will come to order. today we will hear from the administration's point man on its effort to combat isis. he is back before the committee again. now, this is an issue that this committee has raised repeatedly since isis first began its attacks, and we began calling for airstrikes against isis. so, it has now been two years since president obama dismissed isis as the jv team. today the administration claims its goal is to degrade and ultimately destroy isis, but it still doesn't have a strategy to get that job done. the tide has not turned in terms of the growing influence of isis. instead, these fighters on the back of pickup trucks, to use the president's t

leaders meet in london. in geneva, syria's government and opposition trade blame as talks collapse. >> protests as the controversial transpacific trade pact is signed in new zealand. >> i'm lucia newman in brazil, where thousands have been infected by the zika virus. coming up, what we know and don't know about its consequences >>> so, then, first to the conflict in syria. the blame game is on after talks in geneva to end the war is suspended. on the ground government forces are closing in on the rebels, the regime making inroobs into territory held by the opposition. with no political solution, the focus is moving to humanitarian assistance. 70 world leaders are gathered in london, hoping to drum up 9 billion in aid. at the moment we'll have the latest on fighting near the syrian border. first more on the conference from barnaby phillips, who is in london. barnaby, the failure of the talks in geneva makes the focus of talks where you are at all the more important. >> yes, it does. and it only confirmed the depressing assumption, i think, which underlines this donor appeal, which i

syria where it plots attacks now in the west. i.s.i.l.,isise, danger, islamic state, whatever you want to carry it, they have taken over al-qaeda as the biggest threat in the minds of americans and that has law enforcement agencies scrambling to disrupt them in this country. 75 people have been arrested in the u.s. on charges connected to i.s.i.l. as many as 250 americanss have gone or attempted to go to join i.s.i.l. in the territory that it controls in syria and iraq. whatever the numbers, u.s. law enforcement is pursuing those suspected of having connections to i.s.i.l. for more on who they are and what threat they possess, we have this report. >> reporter: who are the faces of i.s.i.l. in america? >> he was born and we lived and this is ironic this is where he would end up dying >> reporter: in may 2015 these people came armed with assault rifles to it an art contest in texas, mocking the prophet. he linked himself to i.s.i.l. in a tweet posted just before he and the other were killed by police >> super smart, super intelligent, all very polite, not radical in anyway >> reporter: t

president that done so. for more, go to aljazeera.com. >>> government gains on the ground in syria, now both sides casting doubt on talks in geneva. i have the world news from al jazeera, also coming up, a blow for donald trump and a nail biting result for hillary clinton in the first vote in the long race to the white house. >>> the link between the zika virus and birth fee effects, labeled guilty until proven innocent. >>> google's parent company overtakes apple as the world's most valuable company. >> the syrian delegation cast talks on the peace talks. the government is taking town after town in aleppo supported by russian airstrikes. the opposition in geneva says russia is actively undermining the peace process. it continues to bomb the areas. in jordan, british foreign secretary phillip hammond condemned russia's airstrikes in syria. >> a couple of months ago, it was a steady trickle of people returning to their homes from syria in this camp did he spite what is going on in the country. that has now stopped and a new tired of refugees heading in this direction because of the

. also ahead a new advance by government forces in syria. they've seized control of a town in the northern aleppo countryside. top level talks on how to combat i.s.i.l. has leaders meet in rome. the world health organisation declares a global emergency over the zika virus but brazil says the olympics will go ahead >>> the race for the next president of the united states has begun as republicans and democrats choose their candidates in iowa. senator ted cruz one the republican-- one the republican. hillary clinton is in a tie with bernie sanders. >> the results are still not known, but it looks like we are in a virtual tie. >> reporter: with the polling, bernie sanders closed the gap essentially shifting the tone and dynamic of the campaign >> it is rare that we have the opportunity. we do now, to have a real contest of ideas, to really think hard about what the democratic party stands for and what we want the future of our country to look like. >> reporter: the republican side the results of the iowa caucus were more definive. >>-- definitive >> god bless the great state of iowa.

>>> syria's president defies calls for cessation of hostilities. bashar al-assad vows to retake the entire country. ♪ >>> hello there i'm felicity barr. and you are watching al jazeera, live from london. also coming up. doctors protest in egypt after the release of police officers accused of attacking their colleagues. >>> farmers fury. tractors drive to greece's parliament in a protest against more austerity measures. >>> and the roman catholic pope arrives in cuba to end a 1,000-year divide in the christian faith. as you can see we're live in havana. ♪ hello. syria's president says his forces will retake the whole country, but believes negotiations are worth pursuing. he was speaking as world powers discuss the implementation of a proposed cessation of hostilities set to begin in a week. despite the diplomacy in germany, the violence continues on the ground. russia air strikes have reportedly killed 18 people in homs. six were killed in air strikes east of damascus, and two more died in daraa. >> translator: we have fully believed in negotiations since the beginning of this cr

>> good evening i'm antonio mora. this is al jazeera america. russia's bombing campaign in syria has restarted as world leaders plot out a platt for the middle eastern country's future. >> also. >> there's nothing conservative about donald trump. >> on air and online. >> fixing a gas leak in l.a. spewing toxic fumes for months. how the damage to the surrounding area could last for decades. >>> historic meeting between leaders of two religions. pope francis and the leader of the russian orthodox church. >>> russian air viekrussian aire resumed in syria. speaking today in an interview with the agents trance press, syrian president bashar al-assad spoke. >> translator: we have fully believed in negotiations and in political action since the beginning of the crisis. however if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fight are terrorism. the two tracks are inevitable in syria first through negotiations and second through fighting terrorism. and the two tracks are separate from each other. >> and tonight there are many unanswered questions about the new deal that is supposed to put

. attempts to stop the fighting in syria even temporarily appear to be going nowhere as the fighting continues. a global security conference in munich, the u.s. secretary of state is talking about a turning point in the search for a political solution. russia's prime minister warned of a new cold war. inside syria, government forces have made progress toward encircling forces in aleppo. russia is continuing it's bombing campaign. to complicate matters further, kurdish targets inside syria. more on the glom diplo59ic front. this report on the turkish border with syria. >> reporter: this high ground gives the syrian army and its alleys an advantage. the main rebel supply lies on the northern countryside of aleppo is within the rake kind ofl of fire. the only entrance to the opposition controlled enclave in a divided city of aleppo. opposition fighters, rebel commanders say a proposed end of the fighting will only benefit the government. >> translator: the battle for aleppo was carried out by the international community who called themselves friends of syria. we will not stop fighting u

just passed away. diplomatic disagreement about whether a pause in syria's war. just pope travels to mexico. will he trump them again. live at the debate ahead of the south carolina primary >>> one of the u.s. supreme courts most conservative members, justice scalia has died. he was 79 years old. it has the potential to shift the balance and power in the court should obama manage to appoint a more liberal justice. we just heard from the president a few moments ago. what did he have to say? >> that's right. after his death we instantly heard from republicans who said they did not believe president obama should name a successor to the supreme court, that that was a decision that should be made by the next president. well, obama came out and made it clear that he does not intend to follow their advice. he said i intend to fulfil my constitutional duty and the senate has plenty of time to approve that decision. the average time to previous supreme court justice is something like 70 days. president obama has nearly a year left. so he believes that he has the right to do this and he plans

of the donor conference on syria, taking place in london. >> translator: -- which has no precedent and of course the relies were positive. we appreciate them. and we say now we are thinking of the road. we have come to a cross road. the first step is that the road should respond to find a political solution to the syrian crisis. having this generosity of heart and hand, everybody who fears for his life has come to us. everybody who wants to find a home has found a home in jordan. so, therefore, we give all of our thanks to great britain and we have to continue -- we have to continue in achieving this political solution, because there is no other solution for this basic problem, for this syrian problem. must be a political solution. we have to raise every effort in order to achieve that political solution, by coordinating our efforts and our actions and our [ inaudible ]. once again thank you very much, mr. cameron, and thank you for this co-host. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you very much indeed, gentlemen. [ applause ] >> thank you. [ applause ] >> thank you. we have some que

on a potential syria cease-fire. hello there, i'm barbara serra, you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up on the program, caste protests in northern india. ten people are dead, water supplies are cut off and roads are blocked. >>> fijians are told to stay in for a second night as officials assess the damage. >>> and in niger one of the president's rivals is behind bars. and promoting the urban garden. venezuelans are encouraged to grow their own food to combat shortages. thank you for joining us. syria has suffered two devastated sets of explosion explosions in just 24 hours. in the first homs was hit by a double car bombing in the city. at least 46 people were killed, and more than 100 injured in one of the deadliest attacks today in the government. just hours later a southern suburb of damascus suffered another explosion killing 83 people and injures dozens. 31 villages in aleppo have been effected. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry has reached a provisional agreement with russia on terms of a cease-fire in syria. we have more now from the turkish border

its reach well beyond syria. the war that has claimed so many lives still rages. we are facing, we together, the gravest humanitarian crisis in europe since world war ii, as innocent people, many of whom are just women and children, are either trapped inside a country without access to medicine and food or they have been forced to flee. the flood of desperate migrants has now spread well beyond the middle east as we know 50 of the people now are knocking on the door of europe with a whole industry being created to try and help move them, and some very perverse politics in certain places that turns the dial up and down for political purposes. half of them now come from places other than syria. think about that. pakistan, bangladesh, afghanistan. so the burdens of europe which is already facing a complex economic, political and social strain is now even more intense. i want to make it clear to all of you, we in the united states are not sitting across the pond thinking somehow we're immune, we're not sitting there saying this is your problem, not ours. no. this is our problem. the un

kurdish rebels for wednesday's car bomb attack in the capitol, ankara, but the syria-based ypg group has denied any responsibility. jamal reports from ankara. >> reporter: it took the turkish government just a few hours to identify those it believes carried out wednesday's deadly bomb attack. they are blaming the ypg, though it denies any involvement in the explosion. ankara, says the ypg is an offshoot of the pkk, a separatists group. >>> the investigation continues so far nine people linked to the ankara bombing have been taken into custody, and others have been identified. there will be other arrests in due course. >> reporter: security as become more and more of a concern in turkey in recent months. in october a twin bomb attack killed close to 100 people outside of the main strain station in the capitol ankara. and just a few weeks ago, isil claimed responsibility after a man blew himself up in istanbul. all of these attacks are linked to the war in syria. turkey has been saying that its allies need to support it in its fight against those it calls terrorists, but as far as the u.s.

>> turkey targets kurdish fighters inside syria. hello, i'm david foster, also in al jazeera, egypt's president said that he will hand power back to parliament and that no, sir has been restored. >>> now the pope this a country dominated by catholics has done something that non-of his predecessors have managed to do. plus... >> an i'm in florida in the everglades where the burmese python hunt is underway and why they're so eagle for get rid of yet another invasive species. >> any pause of fighting agreed by world powers this week will happen. russia's foreign minister said that the deal is more likely to fail than succeed. global leaders have been meeting for syria's war at the top of the agenda. and they're covering events for us, dominic kane live for us in munich. it is easy to see how there are those on both sides who think this is going a little chance of success when you see how many disagreements there are over the targets that have been picked for attacks by both sides. >> that's right, david, for the past two days, the aftermath of thursday night, friday morning's ag

and i.s.i.l and china. but what's happening on the ground in syria at this moment. >> against i.s.i.l now in syria, we are working with forces in the north and eastern part and also in the southern part of syria who have the objective, as we have, of fighting i.s.i.l. our principal objective in eastern syria is to take the city o of rack cay. it's the city to have the caliphate. it's -- it's the city of the caliphate. it's important we capture that city. in iraq, a key objective would be the city of mosul. i.s.i.l's second largest city. so if you're thinking in terms of the old world war ii news reels with arrows on the map. if you think of iraq and syria where is where you have to start in the defeat against i.s.i.l which is where the parent tumor was, in iraq and syria we need to destroyed i.s.i.l around the world and defeat it, but we need to defeat it in iraq and syria and in terms of arrows on the map, that means the two biggest cities operated by i.s.i.l. we're going to separate them and capture both of them. >> rose: do you believe you can do that in the term remaining

. in parts of syria. 28 people are confirmed dead, and 61 people were injured by the blast. it targeted a convoy of military service vehicles, waiting for traffic signals near the turkish parliament. we go to ankara. the turkish president says all evidence points to syrian kurdish rebels. >> reporter: the pyf and y.p.g. in northern syria, and the links with turkey which touched upon. a link that will help our allies to understand. we've been saying that, and allies will say they understand. and with a link, terrorist organizations and those that support them will be gauged >>> shamal joins us live from there. the finger pointed in the direction of syria. and turkish officials saying more evidence to come. tell us about that. >> what we understand is that the government here has identified at least 14 suspects they claim were behind the attack, belonging to the y.p.g., which is, as you say, the kurdish armed group operating inside syria. it is linked to the p.k.k., the kurdistan workers party, a rebel organisation that has been at war with the turkish states for decades. the government.

will retain their own ability to comment on the situation in syria within their own representative man days, but this will be done here. mr. president, council members, the initial indication of consent by the parties to the conflict is, indeed, encouraging. but what we need is for the parties to abide by the terms of the agreement. much work now lies ahead to ensure its implementation the parties must remain steadfast in our own resolve. today's resolution which we hope will be coming further is further we hope manifestation of the commitment to deliver the parties of this agreement. saturday will be critical tomorrow. in fact, from midnight. no doubt there will be no shortage of attempts to undermine this process. we're ready for it. we should not be impressed. we should not be overly concerned. we should address it and realize that this is part of any cease-fire cessation of hostil hostilities. >> we've just been listening to u.n. special envoy addressing the u.n. security council which is just getting ready to pass a resolution endorsing the u.s.-russia-brokered plan to pause fight

worked to seal that border, it's much harder for these foreign fighters to get into syria than it was until then. turkey is caring for 2.1 million refugees from syria, spending almost $8 billion. something that people forget about. so turkey is doing a lot here. militarily, they were doing some very important air strikes in north of the country. right now, we're working with them to get them back into the campaign but we're doing that very carefully. because the conflict with -- not conflict but the tension between turkey and russia after turkey shot down a russian plane after the russian plane violated turkey's air space kind of complicated the picture. that's something we're working with turkey on. but we're comfortable with turkey's contributions. they're a critical nato ally of ours so we'll work with them. >> thank you. out of time. >> thank you. mr. dana rohrabacher of california. >> thank you for your service, mr. ambassador, and when you mentioned in the beginning of your testimony that abu seeoff left this world with our help, was that the same abu sayoff or another one?

campaign against isis in iraq and syria. u.s. policy has come under scrutiny and carter has had to defend it. i sat down with him earlier today for a wide-ranging conversation. we talked about u.s. strategy, the role of technology, his goals for leaving office, and more. mr. secretary, you said in a speech recently that the u.s. faces a dramatically different security environment than anytime in the last 12 years. to confront an array of threats like the islamic state and russia and you are no longer able to focus on one threat at a time. i would like to walk through those threats if we may. what is the biggest threat today? sec. carter: all five of them are large. all five of them have to be countered. so we do not have the luxury of deciding one has a higher priority over the other. the counter isil fight calls upon counterterrorism and counterinsurgency capabilities right now. as we look ahead to longer term competitive situations, with other countries where we do not expect to have a war, don't want to have a war, but have to deter them by showing that any work they do get into with t

events in few is -- teunis,d then egypt, syria, yemen, iran, and other places. i believe that the rise of terrorism and the rise of religious extremism and the rise of terrorism are all challenges we all have to deal with. we can't deal with them alone. i do believe and remain convinced and hopeful that in dealing with those challenges, our region will come out of it in a much better place than it was going into it. and so i don't want to belabor this point. i want to talk about saudi arabia. saudi arabia is a nation of 30 million people, including noncitizens. a nation with a -- population, a nation with tremendous resources, whether minerals or oil, of course. saudi arabia is a nation that has tremendous financial resources, that has first-class infrastructure, that has stable government, and geographic location, that has many sons in the world, saudi arabia is a nation that has a history of pragmatism and proportion and balance in both its internal as well as external policies, and it is a country that is -- if it has one constant, that constant is change. we are a tribal nation and

>> diplomatic disagreement whether a pause in syria's civil war can work as turkey targets kurdish fighters in the country. >> hello, you're watching al jazeera live from london. coming up, the pope takes aim at church leaders to tackle the country's problems. we're with special forces in senegal as they train to counter the threat of founders in west africa. plus. >> a month ago the great burmese hunt is underway. we'll show why' so keen to get rid of another invasive species. >> hello, attempts to top the fighting in syria, even temporarily appears to be going nowhere as the fighting continues. at a global security conference in munich, the u.s. secretary of state was talking about a turning point in search of a political solution while russia's prime minister warned of a new cold war. inside syria itself they've circled rebel forces in aleppo. russia has continued it's bombing campaign and to complicate matters further they have continued bombing kurdish fighters inside syria. first this report from dana, who is on the turkish border of syria. >> this high ground gives the allie