beyond syria and iraq. i think be i agree with steve, that right now, this administration is -- does not have that kind of comprehensive strategy in place and is not interested in developing one, does not have the time to develop one. i agree with him, it's going to be handing over the situation in the least bad shape possible to the next administration. for the next administration, it is a comprehensive strategy dealing with i.s.i.s, that requires not only fire power. it requires development assistance, intelligence, better communication, it requires getting at the root causes of this phenomenon called i.s.i.s. it used to be al qaeda, now it's i.s.i.s, if we don't deal with the root causes we will have a more virulent form of extremism if we were to get rid of i.s.i.s. so -- >> ambassador volker if we look forward and it takes to the next administration for them to come in, set a plan in place, a strategy to deal with i.s.i.s, given events we have seen in paris, in brussels dmm ankara and other cities in j

there's no way to unify syria, we talk about a strategy to unify syria with someone else leading syria, no chance. ishful thinking. and to talk about a federation, he controls 40% of his former territory, there's it. we have syria and kurdistan already. we know the turks are not happy with it. there's a kurdish a autonomy -- autonomy in syria and in iraq. syria, the about sunnis tarts with the and other followers. radical elements. so first of all, let's find a way to have a kind of federation or whatever and also agree to have this kind of federation. then fighting. the problem is, there are so many contradictory interests regarding the situation in syria, as an example, there are those who support, like iran, hezbollah, russia today, it's an intervention in siria. , en worse than politics believing iran should be a central part of the settlement, of the solution as i mentioned earlier. they demonstrated their campaignabilities when they were supported. why not support other moderates in syria, like sunni moderates, to fight for their cause. most of them were ignored. western parties

the crisis in syria has put turkey at odds with russia, iran, syria as a state and other counties in the region, as well as non-state actors and terrorist organizations. they are all around the spectrum. with the p.k.k. on the one hand, and the islamic d.a.e.s.h. on the other. >> with fall out from the syrian civil war affecting the country, turkey is fighting two conflicts at the same time. one against the isil, and the other against the kurdistan workers party and p.k.k., a group designated as a terrorist organization by turkey and its allies. no recent attack highlighted how complicated the situation in turkey has become. more than the one in february. 29 people were killed. most of them members of turkey's military, when a convoy of buses were targeted. when a small group claimed responsibility, turkey's government blamed the bombing on a syrian force that works with the u.s. in the battle against i.s.i.l. turkish officials accused the group of being a syrian affiliate of the p.k.k. when the fragile truce between the p.k.k. and turkey's government fell apart, a conflict that bega

in iraq and syria have. so over time they will become and start sending those kind of people to western europe. the biggest flow of foreign fighters is now into libya, no longer into iraq and syria but libya. so the same problem we had in iraq and syria now playing out in europe, we're eventually going to see in libya. so that's important. that's the story on the safe haven and their territory and their movement, right? on terrorist attacks think about it this way -- in the last 4 and 4 1/2months since late october, they've brought down a russian airliner over the sinai, one of their groups. they directed an attack in paris, killing hundreds. san bernardino. >> rose: a connection. a connection, right. somebody who thought they were doing it in their name. now brussels, whether directed or not. so four attacks against the west in four and a half months, that's an unprecedented pace of attacks against the west. al quaida never achieved that. so in terms of them wanting to attack us and us wanting to stop those

we didn't go out to the streets to divide syria. we took to the streets for a free syria. it was a great feeling back then. we were saying what we wanted to say and we felt free. >> reporter: a partial ceasefire that reduced the violence allowed them to return to the streets. these demonstrations from rebel held areas were a reminder to the world of the popular uprising that began in 2011. this slow begans and the chants were messages that said there is still an opposition that still refuses to bend to the government. zeina khodr, al jazeera. >>> the i.s.i.l. group still has strongholds and can roam freely mostly in iraq but mostly northern syria. i.s.i.l. has held ground in many areas but it is important to note some of the areas are empty dessert. desert. >> most recent book i.s.i.s. a history scheduled for release in april. he joins us from london. fawaz always good to have you with us. one point you make arab spring following decades of failure in the arab world and the economic popularization of arab societies played a role in the rise of i.s.i.l. >> absolutely antoni

this is no longer the syria that we once knew. yes, we love syria. i am saying this because this is what i have heard so many times from syrians who left syria. we cannot take the barbarism that we are witnessing. keeping that in mind, how human rights and good governance help prevent terrorism and extremism, the conditions that make individuals or communities vulnerable to violent extremism recruitment, often called "push factors," are often physical insecurity or the inability to provide for one's family. i think we can all agree that many syrian people feel that these are the conditions they are currently living in, and if we do not have a sustainable peace process that supports them in a realistic way, this is only going to continue. two, even where people's low-level needs are not met, social and political marginalization can impact higher-order human needs such as a valued role or a higher purpose. again, do you think that a valued role or higher purpose is being served right now for the syrians who are currently living in syria? or for the syr

in syria. american special force he are helping the iraqi government and cusht kurdish informs rolling i.s.i.l. back. and syrian troops are fighting both i.s.i.l. and the u.s. backed rebels. either way, i.s.i.l. is on the defensive now in both syria and iraq butter the group is very much on the offensive everywhere else. the i.s.i.l. ideology is morphed into a franchise that's being taken up by the likes of boko haram in nigeria and grille la guerilla groups. the same story in libya. the new local i.s.i.l. franchise announced itself last year when it murder twuf 21 egyptian christians in front of cameras. but as i.s.i.l.' i.s.i.l.'s fore started to turn, regrouping, in february, i.s.i.l. launched strikes against a border in tunisia, the base was hit, 49 people died in the raid and six were wounded. the defense secretary, u.s. secretary ashton carter says u.s. needs to confront i.s.i.l. everywhere. he said "we are going to protect ourselves in libya as in anywhere else." i'm joined by douglas ol

and some of it is just this perfect storm of the fact that these syria crisis, the syria several war has been happening within the distance that they can reach, and that they're able to come back again, and the fact that there is access to weapons and access to the materials to make explosives. >> keir simmons reporting on the scene in brussels. thank you, sir. again, we have been watching the active pictures coming to us out of the schaerbeek neighborhood where a raid is taking place. we saw police unloading privacy barricades, screens to give a proper work space. they loaded one back into the truck. and on the top of your screen, we're waiting for ash carter from the pentagon to give an updated briefing on what we know about what's taking place, the terrorist attacks that happened in brussels as well as the reports of the second in command from isis, killed yesterday during a strike. back with much more in a moment. ght, at&t helps keep everyone connected. right now at at&t, buy the new samsung galaxy s7 and get one free. no matter how you hang out, share every minute of it. buy on

five years since the start of the uprising in syria. neither bashar al-assad nor the rebels seem to have the upper hand. what started as an art cry against-- out cry against oppression turned into a full blow conflict. these are hezbollah fighters. they say they prevent rebels running into lebanon. hezbollah has been labelled a terrorist organization, a group accused of killing groups in syria. the hezbollah leader says it won't deter his group from sending fighters to syria >> translation: we are not ashamed. we don't have to justify our fight in syria. no-one gave us orders to send troops, not even iran. going there was our decision. it was our will. >> reporter: the army of islam is one of the opposition's largest fighting groups. based on the outskirts of the capital, it is backed mainly by saudi arabia. it is one of the many rebel factions trained and financed by rich gulf countries and turkey. >> in syria we are working to bring about change, political change, if possible, to what is happening in syria in order to remove a man who

in northern syria. they are certainly an important part of the big picture of syria even staffan de mistura has said that the issue will be one that will come at a later stage. he is trying to deal with the two main sides, the high negotiations committee, the main opposition block and of course the syrian government, ambassador joffrey who is meeting with staffan de mistura later on today. you can see perhaps why they don't want to bring in the added complication of the kurdish issue. if you listen to the comments when he spoke to reporters, he took some questions in english but is strongest when he spoke in arabic. he was asked about the high negotiations committee that main opposition block, and in his answer, he referred to the h.n.c. and also to one of their key members. listen to what he had to say. >> it's not an honor at all to sit with a terrorist in direct talks. the chief delegation of saudi is a terrorist. he belongs to a terrorist faction that's hit embassies and killed citizens at the facul

is they have got to try to deal with the problems of syria which are spreading well beyond syria's borders. those are clearly isil which is a threat to other parts of the middle east and exists in other parts of the id l east, for example in libya, and may well be involved in planning attacks in other parts of the world, particularly in europe, and the other way that the crisis in syria is spreading to europe is that mass migration, all of the refugees spreading through turkey and then on to europe. i think the big idea is try to solve the fundamental problem in damascus, solve the political problem, and the new syrian government that represents elements of the current government and elements of the opposition, and then you stop the war, and then you can deal with those problems that are going well beyond syria east territorial borders. the new syrian government if you get there, and we're a long way off, could be help by the international community to fight isil and the refugees could start to return. that's the event yule plan. >> did you detect a slight shift in the tone from this kerry

on the ground and beyond syria's borders. three and a half years ago the man who first threed to resolve the conflict resigned and had this to say. >> at the time when we need, when the syrian people desperately need action, there continues to be finger pointing and name calling in the security council. >> reporter: that hasn't changed. no-one seems to be able to find common ground on how to end this war. everyone has their own interests. so-called red lines were crossed. >> first hand accounts from humanitarian organizations on the ground. these all strongly indicate that everything these images are already screaming at us is real, that chemical weapons were used in syria. >> reporter: syria's civilization has been described as one of the most ancient in the world. full of treasures, some that have survived for almost 2000 years. parts of it are now completely destroyed. entire communities forced to leave not just their homes, but their country. nobody wants to be a refugee and there is little international appetite to find

that chemical weapons were used in syria. >> reporter: syria's civilization is described as one of the most ancient in the world, full of archaeological treasures, some that survived for almost 2,000 years. parts of it are now completely destroyed. entire communities forced to leave not just their homes but their country. nobody wants to be a refugee, and there is little international appetite to find a home for the constant flow of syrians fleeing from this war. their future is vulnerable and uncertainly. they all say they long to go home, but no one knows when that day will come and what syria will look like when it finally does. stephanie dekker, al jazeera. >>> morocco has decided not to withdraw its troops from u.n. peacekeeping missions. it has threatened to pull out after it was angered by comments from the bank ki-moon when he said morocco was occupying the contested region of western saha sahara. morocco has asked 84 u.n. international staff there to leave within three days. this was the reaction of bank ki-moon's spokesman. >> this is a unilateral action, which i think is in

squeezing them in iraq and syria. isis you have in libya right now are largely focused on gaining territory, possibly conducting attacks. over time they will develop the same external focus on europe and the united states that isis and iraq and syria have. over time they will start sending those people to western europe. the biggest flow of foreign fighters is into libya. no longer into iraq and syria, but into libya. the same problem we had in iraq and syria now playing out in libya. that is the story on the safe haven and their territory and their movement. on terrorist attacks, think about it this way, in the last 4.5 months, since late october, they have brought down a russian airliner over the sinai one of , their groups. they directed an attack in paris. san bernardino, a connection. somebody who thought they were doing it in their name. against -- four attacks against the west and 4.5 months. al qaeda never achieved that. charlie: so isis is the greatest national security threat to the united states? mike: righ

he also said he is not ruling out a more federal division of syria, it cannot be a partition of syria but perhaps more a federal way of governing syria and that depends on the people of syria and talks here for people to agree on a future patent of governance for syria. >> i leave you there because on the phone from kobani is an official in the foreign affairs directorate of kobani set up two years ago and thank you for your time, how official is this announcement? is this going to happen imminently? >> thank you for having me and federalism in north syria going to be very soon and now the representative of the component of the north of syria they are making meetings in the situation of this federalism. >> tell me how it will play out on the ground then or how you envision it will play out on the ground. >> actually already in north syria in kobani in the umbrella of the democratic administration and under the federalism more components are going to join and there will be more atonomous regions and the regions will track the privacy as according to the diversity of this region to be -

victory in the campaign in syria. he points to the wins he gained. bolstering ally bashar al assad. bringing the warring parties to negotiations in syria. that would not have happened if it weren't for the russian military intervention. the first thing, he can point to the way russia is a major player on the international stage. russia has power diplomatically. it is shown it is prepared to use the power in syria. that will be taken notice by the united states and others around the world. >> matthew chance for news moscow. thanks. >> the surprise move by russia comes among peace talks aimed at resolving the conflict in syria. we have cnn international editor nic robertson in geneva for us. nic, how does this affect the discussions there? >> reporter: the opposition here is saying look if putin's rhetoric is matched by actions on the grounds and he reduces military footprint, this is good. the opposition is hoping this puts pressure on bashar al assad to step down. that's been one of the demands. the syria government n

of syria. the region would include three onclaves near the turkish border. the announcement was made at a kurdish conference. about 200 delegates approved the federal democratic system. the move is rejected by the syrian government and opposition who warn against the partition of the country. >>> russia's president says despite a partial withdrawal from syria, his air force is ready to return if needed. putin withdrew some war planes from syria after a cessation of hostilities that daily russian air strikes dropped by two-thirds. they showed russia's relation sthip was still warm for his readiness to compromise and dialogue. we sent this update from moscow. >> reporter: for the past three days pictures of soldiers and jet fighters returning to russia were shown on national television. mr. putin did say that at this specific moment, while the mission was accomplished and the rest was really an intersyrian affair and russia wouldn't interfere with that. among the accomplishments were to reduce, q

he traveled to syria in 2014. he was a known associate of abaaoud who is the ring leader of the paris attacks. he was found -- >> the connections are -- >> the connections are myriad. he was found with tatp in his possession. the french interior minister said he was in the advanced stage of attack planning. what i think we're seeing play out here is a major push by isis in europe to attack at least potentially two countries, perhaps more. >> it almost feels that they're just scratching the surface of how wide and deep it is in europe. i want to get your take that as clarissa was pointing out, the third suspect in the airport. we heard from sources that the united states knows the identity of this suspect. they're not releasing it, though. what's the thought behind that? >> the thought is that you don't want somebody who you're pursuing to know what you know about them. it's good law enforcement work. it's good intelligence work. what you are seeing here, i want to point this out in terms of finding these people. b

in iraq and syria. the only way that we can live in the kind of federation there is no way to unify syria. talking about strategy to unify syria to someone else leaving syria no chance. wishful thinking. and to talk about a kind of federation, we stand led by bashal, it's 30% of his former territory, that's it. we know the turks are not happy with it. >> we might think about in syria. . the problem is with the -- we have diish, al qaeda follow us survival elements. so, first of all let's find a way to every kind of federation or whatever is also agreed to have this kind of federation and then fighting the other or whatev whatever. the problem is that so many contradictory regarding the situation and syria is an example. like aran, isbala, russia today is an intervention in syria. and even western, it should be a simple part settlement of the solution as they mentioned earlier. so they'll demonstrate the capability to fight. they'll go support it. why not support as moderates in syria. . most will be ign

they won't just be about syria, but i think for the obama administration syria is the central thing. they know that to fight i.s.i.l. and brussels shows the problems of i.s.i.l. and how far the problems of syria have spread, you can't really do it until you have the end of the rest of the war in syria and then you can go into those areas, particularly, raqqa, where i.s.i.l. has its that headquarters. so i think syria is at the center of all this, but russia will be bringing up a lot of other issues >>> thanks. plenty more ground to cover for you here on the news hour. including the people of sudan. >> reporter: i'm adrian brown on a disputed island in the south china sea where this time it's taiwan making waes in these trouble waters-- waves in these troubled waters. >> i feel sorry if in any way i hurt my female cleepg ten players. >> reporter: coming up in the sports new, novak djokovic is forced to back pedal after a tennis sexism row >>> a cessation in hostilities in yemen. there have been several failed attempts to end the conflict that has triggered a big humanitarian crisis in

or the kurds in syria ambitions about syria start to evolve in a different direction. so if syrian kurds wish to declare and keep a federal system, we can expect that syrian kurds will not diverse substantially from the position taken by the regime in damascus, iran and iraq on the future of syria at the regional level, but when it comes to the international level we should expect pyd to keep a balances position between them >>> a balanced position, that's something that turkey would disagree with. it you are key would be unhappy with any potential announcement, don't you think? >> for sure. the prime minister paid a visit to iran where he jointly made a statement that turkey is in favor of the syrian territory unit. so on the other hand, we know the turkey strict positions against any sort of autonomy on turkey-syrian borders by kurdish y.p.g. pyd is less interested in turkey as a terrorist organization and it is regarded as a serious threat to the national security. any declaration by the syrian kurds for a federal system will not be welcome by ankara >>> the opposit

these are hezbollah fighters in syria. the shia group says its fight is to prevent rebels from moving into lebanon to launch attacks there. the gulf cooperation council and the arab league have recently labelled hezbollah a terrorist organization accusing the group of killing civilians in syria. a decision hezbollah leader says won't deter his group from sending fighters to syria. >> reporter: we are not ashamed and we do not need to justify our fight in syria. no-one gave us orders to send troops, not even iran. or the iotolah. going to ser i can't was our decision-- syria, it was our decision. >> reporter: this is one of the largest fighting opposition groups. based on the outskirts of the capital of damascus, it is backed by saudi arabia. it's one of the many rebel factions trained and financed by rich gulf countries and turkey who is studently anti bashar al-assad >> in syria we are working to bring about political change if possible to what is happening in syria in order to remove the man who is responsible for the mu

[inaudible] syria or iran. of course when it happens, we provide evidence like in the second lebanon war we asked for cooperation from russia. the answer was not. so it shows responsibility to inspect it. this was the case where. [inaudible] we had a way to clarify if it was russia and it would be settled. they had assistance which are sold to certain countries in the region. we are not happy with it. we do have open channels. >> if i have to conclude. >> yes. [laughter] >> i want to emphasize that we are going to celebrate c8 years of independence in may. looking back not just on 68 years of independence, it is a successful enterprise. there are too many elements in the region that are not ready to work with america. i'm talking about the sunni claiming the same claim that this is the islamic land and not a jewish state. by all means, first concern is them economy. open minds and open hearts. we succeeded in using these abilities and disadvantages to become advantages. in the 60s we fought to build the jordan

well they wanted to keep their bases in syria which i think is important for them. they wanted that the assad regime will not fail, which they were successful in supporting or reestablishing the assad regime because the assad regime was about to fail. >> rose: it would have failed if they hadn't come in. >> it would have failed that's true. so this is a fact. but a fact that russia is talking about the possibility that over time long term there is a future without assad because ofy5 both sides. i think it's wise not to aim that destroying destruction in syria because we've seen too many failing states, governmental fractures so it's wise to keep an eye on governmental structures not to be clear over time a long term future for syria cannot be with assad. >> rose: there's a need for some kind of structure there. the structure of the government would be gained by isis and libya. tell me what germany want to do not only in libya but in africa in terms of using its own capabilities. libya, central africa. >> one sentence can make one thing clear. germany is never acting

we have more from the turkey syria border. >> reporter: securing turkey's 900-kilometer border with syria is not easy. the government wants to seal it off completely with concrete walls, watch towers and more guards. the construction started about two years ago. some residents here say it's already made a difference. >> translator: they were passing from here. terrorists, men, well, smugglers, they were all passing from here. >> reporter: turkey says it fears isil fighters are crossing in to its territory with the intent of carrying out attacks. this is the closest we can get to the border with syria and you can see right behind me the concrete wall. that wall was built about a month ago by the turkish authorities, the government says it wants to prevent all smuggling activities and also prevent anyone from entering turkish territory illegally. but western powers have accused turkey of turning a blind eye to the flow of foreign fighters in and out of syria. western intelligence services estimate more than 30,000 foreigners from 10 100 countries are fighting in syria. and that turkey was t

syria and around syria, not only syria because , this will affect everyone wherever? samar: as we discussed. i think if we don't do everything as the preventive measures i talked about or creating the ecosystem that i talked about, or addressing the injustices that have been committed on all sides, not just from the regime to the opposition, but on all sides and , you never address that, the anger is going to increase. we're going to see an increase in anger. we are going to see an increase in poverty. we are going to see an increase in a lack of trust. we're going to see an increase in a lack of cooperation across nation states. the world in which kofi annan highlighted for the reason of his resignation in the beginning of 2012 is going to magnify by 10 times as much, and i think by just what i just said, i think we can imagine where that will go and what will happen with that. but we shouldn't let that happen , because we have tools in our tool box to change that course and that's what i want to get , across today, and that is many people throw up their hands and sa

they want to see a free syria, democratic syria without assad, without terrorism, without these militias or terrorists that he really recruited from outside. i believe it's about times to no to this regime, to say no to these crimes in syria. we are here to really see a negotiation about transition, a political transition in syria, we are here to really see some serious work. we want to see a serious partner, and also, we want to see action by our friends. >> 8.4 million syrian children are affected by the conflict which began five years ago. this is according to a new unicef report. 3.7 million children have been born since then. nearly 7 million children are living in poverty. half of all syrian refugees are children. many of those fleeing the fighting in syria have taken refuge in jordan. we went to one of the camps housing them. >> when the first syrian refugees arrived in jordan, they never dreamed they would be here this long. five years later, a new generation has been born here. in february, rima became the 5,000th baby delivered in the u.n. hospital in jordan's biggest refugee c

he was jailed last year for being part of a network sending fighters to syria. inevitably many people in europe are wondering how such suspects can escape capture and carrying on planning attacks. president hollande called for better information sharing between e.u. states. >> reporter: if we have this shared intelligence strategy, knowing where they might be, knowing how they can use their quote skills learned in syria, learned in yemen, better we have the capability of preventing these attacks. >> reporter: in belgium this week's events lead to the justice and interior ministers offering to resign. while here in france, politicians from the ruling party accept there have been security failures. >> translator: we did not do enough. and we did not act quickly enough. there were a number of measures that had been planned for sometime. and need the europe yarn parliaments app improvemental. especially the npr system to record air passenger's details so we can keep track of people's movements. >> reporter: there was an outpouring of anger in paris. this demonstrati

the syria of syria? iraq? of course not. the gulf? of course not. turkey? of course not. this is something to keep in mind when we go very quickly and simply. lee: that's great. jomana: i will ask you to wrap we go toor before questions and answers. to say it was very moving when you mentioned about your .riend being killed by isis a reviewu can give us of how the syrians are looking at it, the the seized syrian communities are perceived. what it looks like now and what it is likely to look like. jomana: i'm speaking in my own personal capacity of this. from the people that i talked to come i'm sure that you won't be shot that the syrians are he credibly disappointed by the way the things have unfolded. statesaith in the united is an understatement. they felt really not only abandoned but the trade by anyone who has -- in a country or any leader who has attempted or claims to have attempted to address the situation in. we don't have to go back to the goldberg article, the redline, and how that was the fi

the syria is the cloud, right? syria is the dark cloud that hangs over this administration, and the differences between the noninterventionist obama and the intervention mist in the foreign policy establishment and the middle east and europe is profound. i mean, he really beliefs and he has reason to believe this, this is not coming out of the air, that one of his primary tasks is to keep america from intervening, from following its impulses and intervening in middle eastern civil war that can't be won. and he believes, i think, that ten, 20 years from now, we will all look back and say, wow, thank god barack obama was there to stand up, thwart, you know, history and say, we are not going. >> rose: this time we are not going to do it. >> this time it is not our -- and there are two other quick observations about that. the first is that he doesn't believe that the middle east is important as it used to be for the united states. the obviously reason is energy independence, right? and the second thing even if it were

the ypg fought along side forces to battle isil in syria. the ypg is accused of affiliation to the pkk, which is viewed as a terrorist organization by syria, turkey, and some western countries. since the start of the war the pyd has gained territory in northern syria helped by president assad's focus on fighting the original rebels and, of course, isil. >>> with me now in the studio a kurdish writer and political analyst. thank you so much for coming in to the studio. why announce plans for federal region right now. is that because the kurdish group has simply been invited to those talks in geneva? >> there is already a political entity. i don't know what you call it. maybe there have been these talks when they have been invited. >> how do they legitimate eye ize those areas that they have taken control of? >> it happened in northern iraq. it was autonomous region unti until 2003 when they claimed legitimacy. now they have administration, and now they--they also have some international legitimacy, too. >> in what sense? >> in the sense that

president assad's chief negotiator said he wants to keep syria together, not break it apart. >> the syria kurds are an important component of the syrian people. we are proud of them. they are proud of us. we have established our -- our state together for centuries. so betting on creating any kind of divisions among the syrians will end -- will be a total failure. >> an official in the foreign affairs director rate of kobani, one of three autonomous regions set up in syria two years ago says federalism could work across the country. >> now the [ inaudible ] north of syria, they are under the declaration of this federalism. in north syria [ inaudible ] kobani and [ inaudible ] umbrella of the [ inaudible ] administration, and under the federalism, more components are going to join, and there will be more autonomous regions, and it's not just for the north syria or the kurdish regions, it must to be for syria in general, because under this federalism,sy and the economy is going to be guaranteed. >> lawrence lee has more from the boarder. >> reporter: well, it's only day three of geneva and t

it didn't want syria to become a second afghanistan. kremlin seems to be calculating that now with a cessation of hostilities in and the start of some kind of peace process that to scale back,nt to bring back troops, and to declare this operation a success, but the caveat is numbers. we don't know how many troops are going to come back. we don't know how many troops are going to be staying there. we know some will in the russian latakia.ear katty: it's interesting, isn't it? when russia went in in september, there was an international outcry and concern in washington, but it put president putin in the conversation. it gave them, if you like, a certain amount of clout they didn't have before. steve: absolutely. rewind six months, and the international situation was very different. russia was pretty much an international outcast, almost a pariah state over its annexation of crimea, and moscow's support for the pro-russian rebels in eastern ukraine -- it was almost as if world leaders didn't want to meet putin. then russia started bombing

we didn't go out on the streets to divide syria. we took to the streets for a free syria. it was a great feeling back then. we were saying what we wanted to say, and we felt free. >> a partial cease fire that reduced the violence allowed them to return to the streets. these demonstrations ain rebel-held areas were a reminder to the world of a popular up rise that began in 2011. the slogans and chants were negligence that said there is still an opposition that refuse to see reconcile with the government. zeina hodr, al jazeera. the iraqi military says 22 of its soldiers have been killed in an attack by isil. this happened at a military barracks northwest of ramadi. dozens more were injured. >>> iran's foreign minister will meet with his australian counterpart on tuesday. it's part of a tour aimed at nurturing relationships and building trade links with asian countries. australia is trying to push an agreement for iran to take back around 9,000 failed refugees. andrew thomas reports. >> these protesters see it as a case of love denied. needing iran in 20s 12 after she says s

most observers believe there are never free elections in syria take place. also under pressure when you look at this. this is the document of staffan de mistura, the final document he's going to give to both sides. it's supposed to be a sort of discussion paper for the two sides. what's interesting is the title. essential principles of political solution in syria, almost the same title as the document that the syrian government presented at the beginning of these talks almost two weeks ago. what's different about mr. staffan de mistura's document is right at the center is the whole issue of political transition and that's the issue that the syrian government delegation have been avoiding talking about and have been delaying here at these talks. he's putting that issue front and central. it's the issue that he's made no progress on really at these talks and that's of course the meetings taking place in moscow right now, where some extra pressure cap come from russia. >> thank you for that update. much more coming up, including argentina's dirty war and the se

we know the air campaign and the with thebegan in syria objective to beat terrorism in syria, but we know as of now the air campaign will continue, despite this drawdown. so what is the impact going forward? they were very specific and said they wanted to defeat terrorism but also islamic state. russia succeeded in achieving its goals in syria. which is fighting rebel factions rebellion, moderate from islamic al qaeda in the region, where it was vital for the regime to maintain itself. so they corrected no man's land, to the coastal area. they succeeded in squeezing the opposition, if i may say so, north of aleppo, and making the government forces more and more throught on the ground this air campaign. so they achieved their goals. molly: so we still have to wait and see how much russia is pulling back, the beginning of that taking place today. what impact to this likely have? >> they are at the beginning of the retreat. it does not concern the naval base. airbasenot concern the where they are going to keep some air force keep fighting those groups, as they said. because as for damas

syria is about three kill opinionsters away. there are refugees until syria. you can see little silvery lines. syria hosting thousands of people keep tracking further left. you will see back inside turkey, town of kilis, 90,000. hosting 127,000 syrians so ebb a microcosm here, the effect of separating out syrians from all over the place. it isn't safe frankly here just over the border here isil territory, twice in the last week. caught a mother and her 4-year-old. it plays to the argument from human rights organizations in europe which say the current plan to try to move people as illegal my grant back here in areas which, for example, the european union might deem to be safespots either here or inside syria is difficult to argue for because particular now in the event of the russians leaving, the front lines will ebb and flo. what will happen? 100 kilometers south of here. what areas are going to be safe for roughege ease to be in, in the median term, let alone the long-term. >> most likely everyone, lawrence, said in the past couple of years that those camps

in syria we are fighting i.s.i.s. now we are fighting the issue. i.s.i.s. has a limit but they have no limit. >> translator: it's difficult with five children. yesterday when it rained my children were all soaked. the blankets were soaked and i dry my children and put them to bed and have not slept since. it's hard. i was a house wife before and my husband was everything to me and now i'm both mother and father at the same time. it's very hard. >> reporter: a high profile danish rights campaigner and husband have been fined more than $6,000 for helping a family of syrians after they were found guilty of people trafficking and they gave the family a lift in her car. the husband was prosecuted for driving them to the station and buying them tickets to sweden. hundreds of them face trial for helping refugees passing through the country and they described the ruling as criminalizing decency. there is more to come on the program and speaking to the head of the u.n. team which documented systematic human rights violations in south sudan, a shocking report. also g

raid in syria on thursday. joining us here on the news hour is our correspondent from washington, d.c., an iraq analyst and government relations manager. when you were listening to ash carter, do you think they got it right, or do you think they got it wrong? they certainly seemed to believe they managed to degrade a major part of the command structure of isil here. >> i think that analysis is overblown, and exaggerated. we have seen hundreds of these announcements in the last decade or so, where the u.s. claims that it has assassinated or killed a senior member of al-qaeda or now with isis, and these announcements were never followed by any change on the ground. i think the u.s. feels that there is a crisis of showing any results for u.s. military action that has been failing over and over, and they try to use these incidents as -- as an opportunity to claim victories. i don't think there will be any actual effects on the ground, though. >> if you are right when you say it is failing over and over, why are we

he went to syria. he didn't come back to france because he would most probably be stopped at the airport. he went back to germany, then conducted the terrorist attack in belgium, then went back to france. he came back to the continent virtual undetected. >> it sounds like they are communicating -- i guess this is my final thought. the fact that one of these bombers apparently was arrested and deported, arrested in turkey and the belgium interior minister is now saying, well, we might have missed our opportunity. we could prevented at least this individual from being involved in the attack. sob continued. thank you so much for your time. >>> coming up next here, this taxi driver trying to find his son in the airport filmed the horrifying moment after the attacks. you will see with your own eyes what he discovered. plus, it's called the mother of satan. experts say it was used in these coordinated attacks as it has been in attacks past. who's building these bombs? how sophisticated are they truly? and am

. >> he told reporters there is no plan b for syria. if these talks fail, there will be only more bloodshed. >> the mother of all issues, political transition. >> reporter: in the first meeting with the government delegation there was no sign they discussed that yet. ambassador jaffray has said it's too early to discuss transition and the role of assad is nonnegotiable. when he spoke to reporters he spoke about procedural issues. >> in diplomas it's important to achieve success. >>> the main opposition will meet mr. de mistura on thursday. a clear change meaning the removal of president assad but their spokesman admits the other side is never likely to accept that. >> we know the mentality we are dealing with because it's not only a suffer of five years. it is a suffer of 40, 42 years, in the role of al assad the father and then the son. >> reporter: getting these talks restarted was hard enough but now they must deal with the motion difficult core issues. james bays, al jazeera at the be united nations in geneva. >> let's talk to lawre

semiautonomous jones in syria. the broader question ask, as i said, really this is something that needs to be discussed and agreed upon by the relevant parties in geneva >>> the u.s. secretary of state has told his russian counterpart that the need for a political transition in syria is urgent. john kerry spoke to lavrov on the phone and emphasised the importance of maintaining the limited truce. their latest call took place as representatives of the syrian government and main opposition attend talks in geneva. our diplomatic james bays to join us. set the scene and tell us what's expected later on thursday? >> reporter: we're continuing these proximity talks. so it was the government side that was here 24 hours ago, although there were in the afternoon here some other invite ees from the opposition who are not part of the main opposition block, but in the main hours it is the main opposition block who are back here for the talks. it's not just that meeting that is important, because if you remember some of the key

♪ john kerry meets european foreign ministers ahead of talks ending the war in syria and stopping the flow of refugees into europe. ♪ hello you are watching al jazeera, i'm jane and live from our head head quarters in doha and regional elections in three states and investigators reveal the pilot who crashed the plane killing 350 passengers that he needed psychiatric treatment and another donald trump rally disrupted after 24 hours in chicago it had to be abandoned. ♪ let's go first to the conflict in syria, the on going efforts to end a conflict that is about to enter its sixth year, u.s. secretary of state john kerry is in paris to meet his european counterpart ahead of landmark talks in geneva on monday and want an end to a conflict that displaced 10 million syrians and field an exodus of refugees into europe and diplomatic editor james base is live from geneva and james how difficult are these talks expected to be? >> they are going to be extremely different, jane. i think they are going to be different from previous talks we have seen on syria, remember we had talks in the las