want to influence in syria and the don't want by syria but want. to go and syria seems a very rich. region you know of oil. and natural the we we saw and. you know of the fighting there around. all the resources i knew way syria one. in that area and cape it's not much. and there is a. want of it's a part of the city and what i thought stay in the regime or not. russia but isn't a large part of the syrian. people. want not. to moscow and protect its interests and what what russia want ok well let me give the last word to joshua landis in a wrestle and josh i want to come back to the current situation in syria today this civil war is now entering its seventh year we've seen in the last forty eight hours more than one hundred people killed in italy been eastern ghouta civilians really bearing the brunt of this conflict the humanitarian situation is disastrous as the u.n. has said. where does this all leave this current escalation where does this leave peace efforts whether it's. whether it's sochi whether it's geneva can maybe a negotiated solution still in syria or is this war only g

syria we are part of syria we never tried to divide syria and rearm up to trying to establish something else all we want is democratic syria but the i mean the sudan government is not doing their duties i mean their mission to protect the syrian territory would never thought of dividing syria or anything else so what we are doing i mean in and often in the other places we have been attacked in our home so we are defending yourselves it's uses just self-defense is nothing else i mean underwood will never return to the back to buses through dream as it was before two thousand and eleven gentlemen we will have to leave it there thank you to all our guests today met but you can sell a muslim. it joshua landis and thank you for your company you can see the program again any time via the website al-jazeera dot com and for further discussion to check out our facebook page that's facebook dot com forward slash a.j. inside story you can also join the conversation on twitter at a.j. inside story for me peace adobe and the entire team thanks for watching. monitor the truck quantified i'm valued da

and democratic solution of what syria and now for the syria and i mean what we are looking for is just the syrian government to protect the surgery's who of syria i mean that's all. we are about we are not going to return back to the of us as rigid as it was before and depressing and dictatorship looking for the solution and. all we i mean that a lot with. government forces is just to protect the civilians of the syrian territory joshua landis do you buy that that this will more than a dialogue and if that dialogue actually has in-built guarantees it may actually succeed. yes i agree with that i'd like to correct one thing you said which is that the syrian is not blonde at the at isis of course the syrian regime has has fought isis for a long time and took half the territory the kurds took what happened that territory without the and much united states and the syrian army took the other half of the help of iran so there is going to long war going on between the syrian government and isis but to your question up a team this there is still some disagreement between the syrian government

democratic syria but it any time syria cannot return to the time before two thousand and eleven i mean this political regime must this region is could not be there should be a new syria i mean for the most i think for everybody and we are part of if offering is syrian territory. we know of course that that the kurds are currently governing that area would it be an option for you that the syrian regime would step in and be the administration in that area in exchange with your some sort of deal should be if you are talking of the motor things of course we have a project for that which is syria should be disarmed from the list because now we are talking about sudanese we are talking about the holidays the doozies is a disease the christians muslims. are talking about the the me now two months so have how you can keep all those verses all together should be democratic or otherwise you come up to them if you are talking about the unity of the syrian territory should be all of those should be in democratic system which we are to decentralize syria it means offering and other places not on th

i mean could be that the building of syria again so at least building needs money and syria needs the oil guys which is. where the oil fields are situated so it seems that america would like to prevent syria prevent the russian from actually putting their hands on the old reserves as a reserve so i don't think they will succeed here i have a lot of. information saying that the next stage could be actually a war against american forces in syria and also in iraq so if this happened. happened after about american occupation of iraq in two thousand and three i think this would be the phosphate thing to united states i believe but i sure wouldn't affect any five it's second feiss and actually that heavy price which they paid in syria says that two thousand and fifty and they love it they pay that money let me tell you they would include them anyway when they let me jump in we're going to go to a short break and i'd like to point out to everyone since the pentagon the can do anything it wants because it has more money than god right now it is no longer a political issue in the united states

case then why is israel launching sorties an s strikes over syria. when israel was in effect asked to choose between two evils so two devils sees it the assad regime and dies it indeed shows assad if he's satisfied that i still has been eradicated and that the forces arrayed against him be the russian led coalition or the american led coalition have prevailed but israel also resists the notion that iran is going to have a foothold in syria and to cory door to lebanon against israel so when the iranians violate israeli air space israeli sovereignty by sending a drone into israel israel both should sit down and makes the point of retaliate ing in order to have some impact in the talks about the future of syria israel would not sit idly by if i during such the orange an eva the future is syria is decided upon without bringing into consideration israel's own interests some some might say that israel is perhaps working its own agenda in syria if you jump online and just and just have a look at the information israel has been conducting as sorties over syr

hari is an enemy of syria and. puppets of the us and france for the sea. three days later that it was that should. not. explosives equivalent to nearly two tons of t.n.t. were used in the attack twenty two other people were killed in the blast everybody says as a nation sparked international outrage the un security council approved a resolution sponsored by britain france and the us that imposed some new sanctions on syria. cories murder also led to a popular uprising in lebanon this domestic resistance movement combined with international pressure prompted syria to pull its troops out of lebanon in two thousand and six. assad seemed to take these events in stride at least in public. but since his relations with the west now lay in tatters he moved his country closer to iran. and he signed a military cooperation agreement with russia. that assad turned the situation following her reasons sasa nation to his advantage. he purged political and military leaders who'd been appointed by his father and replaced them with his own people. the shadow said that about

targets inside syria including an ad defense system. there in germany is making the first visit by an indian prime minister to the palestinian territories a trip to the west bank as part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east. north korea's leader kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president mungy and to visit pyongyang the two countries have been holding talks on the sidelines of the winter olympics in china. turkey's military is establishing a new position in syria's in the province of spot of efforts to expand the so-called deescalation zone the state news agency says troops have been deployed to todd to come on russian forces are expected to position themselves six kilometers outside the town and they want to create a line dividing syrian government forces and opposition fighters to prevent contact rebel held it libya's been the site of intense bombardment and ground fighting in recent weeks. egyptian state media says the country's security readiness has been raised to its highest

you once regional autonomy or something like this in syria i think they are just using syria for their interests in turkey if you have a look for example back to two thousand and fourteen you see that after they fought against the islamic state the so-called islamic state in they became really popular all over the world people said hey this is the only force that can cite the islamic state it's only in syria so because they fought the islamic state. suddenly seem to be. the only ones who have women's rights for example the only ones who are really. the only ones who are really democrats so they really profited politically in the international community from this fight and this is what they're interested in they're not interested in syrian kurdistan in the end for them it's not important if there was twenty or something like this they want to profit for their fight intricacy from what is happening in syria let's look closer at that role in that fight we have a short report on the role that the syrian kurdish fighters played in the fight against us. for months now kurdish fighters have b

syria. north korea's leader uses be a limp dick backdrop to invite south korea's president to pyongyang. in sports sweden's show a color when it's the first cold winter olympics color taking the song title it's five goals up for grabs on day one of the. turkish military helicopters being shot down in syria during an operation against kurdish fighters turkey's president rajapaksa about of the way and says it happened near the southern had type province he's warning the perpetrators will pay a heavy price turkey has been battling syrian kurds across the border in the region since last month's goes straight now jim he joins us from the turkish city of gaziantep near the border with syria so we're hearing that claims of responsibility starting to trickle through what do we know at this point jamal. was a turkish military helicopters or mention that was downed initially or was it wasn't clear whether it was downed actually or over syrian airspace or indeed on. the talker side of the border there

government is for who are piling up part of syria which is an issue of the north of syria and they are trying to recoup. you know also and the policies to make demographic changes and so the priority is to protect the civilians you know syria and this is the government's duty to do it now it is their mission and of course from the beginning i mean from the beginning of the syrian revolution we stated all the time well part of syria we have to protect that the syrian territory . i mean i'm not looking for any separation or any different ways all we are trying to do to get the democratic syria for all the components including the kurdish people and others and mainly they are saying kurdish forces is actually is not kurdish forces democratic syria imports which include the kurds out of all the components over there in the north of syria and now even the forces are fighting in off limits to all the components of sharing and it is not only the clippers so everybody is sharing to protect their homes their lands and their villages so this is the case and the priority is to protect this territ

provoked but syria and iran deny that charge. and kim jong un sr has invited south korea's president to a summit in the northern korean capital gains suggest he'd be willing to go if conditions are right it would be the third meeting ever of the two koreas leaders. and thanks for watching you know viewers on my actuator more coming up at the top of the hour. every journey begins with the first and every language with the first word and you can. decode using germany to learn german and why not learn the simple online on your mobile phone free shop do you believe you're learning course because german media see.

legality of the war in syria of the war on syria and it's done under the two thousand and one two thousand and three authorization of the use of military force for iraq against al qaeda which is still being used by the united states to justify its presence in military conflicts all of this is a justification for endless wars thinking they say that they have the authorization you just move the goalpost as it were and say this is what covers it ok i suppose it will fly to yemen in somalia and only those who are getting it is ok so i mean you know it's. it's already a justification and it doesn't matter the circumstances that was done once and it applies the entire region to how this never get to that obama is the person that ramped up the u.s. presence in syria and so the justification was to fight al-qaeda then obama comes and he supports an al-qaeda isis springs up out of out of al-qaeda and now trump in his generals and i want to say trump i would say the generals are going to show their you know you know where i'm going there now using it as an excuse to have u.s. troops permanently base

syria and. that and that those extremists they were being supported by u.s. allies in the region and as general michael flynn who was the head of the defense intelligence agency at that time admitted on al jazeera the united states took a willful decision to support those extremists so the united states back then was supporting an attempt to take over the east of syria later on when the tide turned when the tide turned with the help of russia iran hezbollah the iraqis on the volunteers and isis began to lose ground and territory it was only then that the united states change its policy before that the united states was allowing isis to thrive without the right to go on between turkey and isis we know from kerry the secretary of state of the united states in the audio file that he told the syrian opposition people that the united states allowed isis advance on damascus to put pressure on president assad so only when the tide turned to the united states decided to start fighting. and that was beca

groups inside syria. its only conflict has been with the with within syria and recent times as with the kurds of syria they got frightened because the united states backing started backing the y.p. . but truly turkey should also shoulder quite a lot of the responsibility for the mayhem that. unfolded in both syria and in iraq by the way where they still have some forces inside iraq as you out and their policy towards the kurdish people over many decades has been really bad that must be mentioned that the kurdish people have suffered enormously from successive regimes tens of thousands of kurds have died inside turkey and this so-called cleansing inside syria turkey is in effect committing aggression against a sovereign state the syrian state which has object to fish only to the entry of turkish troops so there are a dime if you cations here and that is the other point i wanted to raise is out there is some genuine friction between turkey and the united states since the coup attempt which seems to have had

america has said that it is in syria only to fight isis today isis has been all but defeated in syria but you don't see the pentagon packing its bags our military policy in syria has not changed our priority remains to defeat of isis whether it's in iraq or in syria that is our intent to defeat isis and not do anything more than that the united states will maintain a military presence in syria focused on ensuring isis cannot reemerge total withdrawal of american personnel at this time would restore assad who continue his brutal treatment against his own people so as to put its ability to the lack of a fundamental commitment to our agreement that is typical of current u.s. diplomacy including the reasons why the americans stay in syria rex tillerson peter he stated that the only goal in syria was the defeat of ice or now they've got far more ambitious plans with more of the most with the mixed messages here is the pentagon staying general mattis said that the united states will stay in syria we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean that's you

they train their people in syria. they are focused onnsy syria. i don't think all of this is really, obviously this nuances not of great interest to turkey, but nonetheless it's important when looking at this. at the same time, the operations of this organization in syria have not been counter in a military way against turkey. there have not been attacks on turkey from syrian territory. they haven't, they tried to keep, over the past two years their senior commanders in syria so, the problem is for the united states, i'm sure we'll get into this later on, by denying any link between the two, something that's necessary for u.s. policy, they also make it difficult for the u.s. to acknowledge some of turkey's concerns and try to explain why the w y pg is not a real threat. not but thatn would necessarily calm the situation. there are clearly links but when we look at the y pg, we see that they are operating according to syrian conditions in syria. >> thank you for that. i should also note there is a legal distinction between them, the united states l

and it's the most serious confrontation between israel and syria in yours. and it's really jet inflames an angry reaction from the army and two very different versions of what happened early saturday morning. the key question didn't iranian surveillance drones stray into israeli territory from a base in syria triggering a deadly response from israeli fighter jets syria says its allies drone was near the israeli border on a standard intelligence mission but israel disagrees it has released this unverified video which it says shows the drone in israeli airspace next they say it followed the drone across the syrian border and shot it down and then launched fighter jets like these to strike the drones base inside syria that triggered a syrian response the regime unleashed its anti-aircraft guns on the israeli after making an emergency exit. israel then responded with another large scale bombing raid it hit syrian government positions near damascus just days ago israel declared itself ready for a standoff like this on tuesday israeli prime minister benjamin netan

right now in syria. certainly we are concerned about weapons of mass destruction in terms of some of the chemical capabilities as you see in the past. we are very concerned about making sure we can provide the humanitarian aid, the stability goes along with getting people back into their homes. we are concerned about making sure we protect allies that are on the flanks of syria, jordan, lebanon, turkey all feel the impacts of that and, of course, we are very keen to ensure there is a political resolution to all of this. that's be on r my military -- >> my time has expired but it's a tough situation. i'm glad we have a leader like you over there, and thank you for your service. >> mr. brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman.n. general votel, 94 leadership and for appearing before the committee to discuss the readiness, the posture andic activities within centcom. so thank you. want to bring your attention back to iran and its activities in syria, perhaps covering some ground that's been covered and hopefully cl

more now on the war in syria. the united nations says six hospitals in eastern ghouta have been targeted in the past 48 hours, as syrian government forces intensify their bombardment in the rebel—held area. activists say more than 200 civilians have been killed since sunday. well we can speak now to dr ahmad tarakji. he's the president of the syrian american medical society. it's a non—profit, medical relief organisation. dr tarakji has been giving evidence to mps this afternoon about the situation in syria. he joins us live from our westminster studio. how tired think the situation in eastern ghouta is right now question what the situation is very bad at this time in eastern ghouta forgot to give you a brief, a brief example of what is going on right now, the storage where the un convoy, the food convoy in eastern ghouta, it was bombed by the syrian air force. that is in the last 48 hours. our collea g u es that is in the last 48 hours. our colleagues from the white helmets tried to evacuate patients from des

advisor on the mideast discusses the conflict in syria stay with us. i have the honor to interview he is a former diplomat and founder and director of conflicts forum and we discussed the middle east and west are welcome to moscow and thank you for talking with the with r t. let's start out with syria and the conflict has been going on almost seven years now. a part of that conflict has come to an end with the almost complete defeat of isis and its affiliate. in that country primarily proxies now this calm thirty is changing how is it different this conflict about as opposed to the formal one you know it really is quite tragic because syria was slowly coming to a conclusion and coming to an end and a political end with a political solution that was going to very likely from these processes going on and now suddenly we have new wars and we have a new episode you use all the plural wars wars explain we've got a theory at least. warse. that the internal war is only going the war against the jihad is is winding down syria has had a big success which i alwa

putin announced a twenty four hour humanitarian pause in syria's eastern kouta now the image of syria's civil war are always disturbing but tonight they warrant an extra warning due to their graphic nature including the bodies of children. these are the images that observers claim proof of a chlorine gas attack that is killed at least one child infant still in diapers or among more than a dozen people being treated doctors say their skin and clothes a heavy with the odor of chlorine one of his say a syrian regime war plane dropped bombs carrying the toxic gas on a village in eastern guta on sunday. a cease fire is yet to come into effect despite a resolution passed by the united nations security council on saturday the wounded continue to fill up the districts over run hospitals. there's been ill come whatsoever there hasn't been time to catch our breath the blood is flowing in the hospitals are overflowing with patients and there are no places to evacuate them. but syria's ally russia denies the assad regime is behind the chemical attack foreign minister sergei lavrov says the reports

the truth is in syria, if you look at the numbers, over half a million people have been killed in syria. that wasn't being done with chemical weapons, that wasn't being done using gas. the truth is, in syria, when the united states makes a statement and says that we're not going to allow you to use chemical weapons and sign a deal with russia to withdraw those chemical weapons, they're basically giving the green light to the syrian regime and to all the other parties involved to use any other means of violence to kill syrians. what about the tortured victims in the dungeons? what about those people? do chemical weapons only justify the idea of actually standing against something like that? in syria, the truth is, christiane, that we're seeing a widespread massacre. we're using many means of torture, of death, or weaponry, that we've locally produced weaponry such as barrel bombs and elephant missiles, things we've never heard of being used in syria, because war costs money and the syrian regime knows that war is financially a stronghold. so what they're doing is creating weaponry to kil

exceptional to syria. we have seen this before in places like iraq, palestine, congo, even in myanmar now with the rohingya. what you want -- if you want a sound bite what we are saying is the power over people. it's this is something that will continue -- this is something that will continue in syria and other places as long as government and states are allowed to do what they do. if populationsnd around the world start mobilizing and pressuring their own governments to stop these types of actions -- to not allow power to dominate over people. if we don't do that, we will see the tragedy of syria continue for a long time and you will see other tragedies in other places around the world. that is what is happening. the: i wanted to ask about role of bashar al-assad. many of the western powers calling for regime change to end the civil war -- that has dropped off ththe table for a lt ofof them in terms o of the ongg conflict. can you talk about that as well? yeah, of course. i am not surprised they dropped o

the kurds on from syria. troop movements. well there is no direct confirmation yet by the syrian regime in damascus but state t.v. and that's considered the voice of the regime is reporting that pro-government forces set to enter a friend and i quote within hours so that indicates that indeed something might be happening on the ground quite soon one important distinction here as far as we hear these forces are no official syrian army forces but rather paramilitary forces allied with the syrian regime but still that might change a lot on the ground since there is no syrian military presence in the kurdish controlled areas in northen syria since twenty twelve so if they now are headed for afrin that's changing a lot yeah so let's pick up. how much is that likely to change the. bridge. well the turkish troops will see themselves are confronting not only syrian kurdish fighters in north in syria but also troops allied with the syrian regime and they will have to decide all they willing to take the risk and continue with operation

turkey or the syria. the downing of this turkish manufactured attack helicopter that was killed to their soldiers is a significant development in this three week long but military operation it brings the number of christe oldest killed by a z y p g kurdish militia group to over twenty years far as the serbs are concerned they've killed at least one hundred fifty kurdish fighters now some advances have been made on the ground in the past twenty four forty eight hours the free syrian army which is fighting alongside turkish military in order to advance towards the y.p. cipro just from hold of free and i have managed to capture some villages on the road towards there as far as the turkish army is concerned and the listening to president merchant tehran they will respond the same to those who were behind that attack what's important to note here is that although the. kurds are sources in the y.p. ji claim that the turkish military has killed civilians in its operation ankara denies that they say the reason wh

syria. kim jong un uses feelin pics to invite south korea's president of pyongyang it would be the first meeting of korean leaders in more than a decade plus. ocean. saving the shark activists trying to put an end to a chinese tradition dating back thousands of years. turkish military helicopter has been shot down in syria during an operation against kurdish fighters this video is said to show the helicopter moments before it was downed killing two soldiers on board turkish president of the one says it happened near the time province. joins us now from the turkish city of near the border with syria so bring us up to speed with the details we know about what happened. well i mean this is a turkish manufactured helicopter known as the attack helicopter as you mentioned shot down we understand probably by kurdish rebels the so why p.g. there are a faction that took his role in some military operation on three weeks ago today actually pass today marks the third week of this operation titled all

conditions of syria. they have autonomy. they make their decisions based on what's good at the moment. they train their people in syria. they are focused on syria so i don't think obviously this nuance is not a prelude to turkey but nonetheless it's important when looking at the ypj. the same time the operations of this organization in syria have not been counter in the military way against turkey. there have been attacks on turkey from syrian territory. they tried to keep over the past few years their commanders in syria. so the problem is for the united states later on is by denying any link and something that's necessary for u.s. policy of makes it difficult for the u.s. to acknowledge some of turkey's concerns and try to explain why the ypj is not a threat not that i would necessarily calm the situation. when we look at the ypj mp y. g. they are operating for the situation in syria. >> thank you for that. there's a legal distinction between the united states lists the pkk in that little nuance. let me

into syria. terry occupation in syria with the us then he said he's sending troops to a province they're obstructing the syrian. patrols openly with all collide and that's that's that's without that's the mecca of jihad right now exactly and of course he's doing that using these arrangements that he's made with the russians and the iranians to relate to legitimize that there is another side because of course that the russians are they say what we need the cooperation of. and there's been one important country and there's a lot of chatter. that the israelis are looking for a real real meaningful scary conflict with the iranians also with hezbollah or do you see this is a. part of a puzzle piece right now because you know that would you know for planners for american planners in the pentagon it would be nice to have a foothold in syria if an operation like that were to be pulled off i prefer to stay on the ground effect which let's just look at the facts israel has been firing missiles from the ter

and is also lost confidence of president calderon as the government pursues military operations in syria and continues to crack down on civil liberties are turkey's principles. about to come well come to conflicts in a talk in front of your party members shortly after the beginning of the attack in syria president other one said quote if the terrorist enough enough don't surrender we will turbaned what does tearing down me how far will turkey go well as you know this process is not a new process it started in two thousand and eleven with the. people being massacred in syria and turkey has been under attack over the last two years seven hundred attacks have come to turkish soil to the first charge you intervening in syria you actually know this is not a this is not the first time it was during operation euphrates shield in two thousand and sixteen when turkey went first into the syrian through the syrian border and turkey was the one who clear to area from dice terrorists isis and syrian citizen what were able to do to militarily in down what does this mean it's a very aggressive matter w

so it's not actually syria you know but it's equivalent the same type of things are going on in syria it's kind of just inform and it might not be you know to a t. informative but it's getting the message across that even if these pictures are someplace else it's ok do you think that you by that i mean to some extent yes if you think that it actually it's like taking initiative then i feel like the pictures don't really matter i think the real issue is scary and sad enough that we don't need to you know misinformed people to have real journalism to have real information and verify you know contact with this be fake news the fake i mean part of why i don't use twitter is because of the information fabrication that exists and also has it in about facebook this exact reason you can't trust anything anymore and it's a sad state of the world now the saddest part is that some commenters say they don't actually care what they say people are dying in syria aren't they facts don't matter that's how things are in the post truth world caleb mop and artsy new york. the german chancellor merkel ha

we'll fight in syria for as long as the united states wants to fight in syria i mean that's you know pretty direct now you see how this might sound strange to go to syria and a vital and while there you start killing syrians in syria in self defense. experts told us that with islamic state practically gone now from syria washington is targeting the country's government instead. they are not just in syria to fight there are. have been in syria for a long time because they want to through our side as the spate of feeds as it becomes clear that it is the syrian forces themselves at large who defeated di age the priority of overthrowing assad begins to reassert itself in the pentagon and in the white snow so i think that's really the answer the question the overthrow of assad was always the probably got prominent reason why the americans were in syria the army in treating these groups intervening with air strikes and sword they were diverted from that by no with the possibility of a defeat of diet inside syria that policy that reasserts itself this is coming at the end of a long war the

within syria that will remain the same but right now. we are hearing that a big operation is on the way all right to him and in a western that's cross over now to the iranian capital tehran i'm told designed by a saying so the israelis and the u.s. have been quick to blame iran for this incident so what's the view from tehran well since the syrian conflict began iran's position has always been that its forces are in syria at the behest of who they see as the legitimate government of the country president bashar al assad and they are there to support that government and they're saying runyan leaders are saying that the real narrative is that israel in fact encroached on syrian airspace has had it has done several times in the past and this time the syrian government response was something that iranian leaders said was long time coming and they certainly celebrated it we've heard bold rhetoric in the past bold and defiant rhetoric from both the iranian leadership as well as the syrians and they've said that they will respond at an appropri

to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on what's next for syria's state. elliston is getting international recognition with the help of israel at least in the world of zoos i'm in bill fit of to committed to do it living for you like a million little pieces of my complicity is going up local study hall meeting. john doe about a tough job with a ship the only palestinians who gets the most help from his to roost on counterparts i don't think this is about those who endure under the oak vision the only could give us a book and know it is all of us not just the heart of this lady of the most of the jihad i know if you continue muslims you know do more camillus also don't piss off . hey everybody i'm stephen bob. taft hollywood guy you know suspects every proud american first of all i'm just george washington and r.v. to suggest this is my buddy max famous financial guru well he's a little bit different i'm not a. good one of your windows up with all the drama happening in our country i'm shooting the road have some fun meet everyday americans. and hope

but syria and iran deny that charge. the washington w. news more coming up at the top of the hour thank you for joining us. you know what special. football made in germany. unimpeded access to education and college and the same opportunities for everyone. a central go.

these included delegations from syria's traditional allies iran. and russia. western officials attended as well and established their first contacts with the new president syria had been a key player in the middle east for decades particularly when it came to regional peace negotiations and fighting international terrorism. only one western head of state attended a son's funeral french president. of holes. leaders decided that if they showed syria some respect they might be able to influence its policy on lebanon you know. after assad's older son died french politicians try to figure out how to deal with bashar. he was an ophthalmologist by training but had no experience as a political leader or an unknown quantity. but no one knew whether he would be up to the job that the bulk. of us i know if it. married his wife in two thousand the new president sought to portray himself as a modern western style leader perhaps this reserved and well educated young man would introduce political and economic reforms in syria and increase the country's ties to the west. in p

israel launches its biggest attacks on syria in decades after one of its warplanes is shot down. hello i'm down in jordan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up in iran hundreds of thousands rallied to mark the islamic revolution thirty nine years ago . a woman welcome at the winter games north korea's delegation talks politics with south korea's prime minister. competitors working together we look at how entrepreneurs in nigeria are getting the upper hand on a challenging business and. israel says it has responded to the downing of one of its warplanes by syrian government forces with its most significant attack on syria in decades israeli airstrikes reportedly hit the county airport on the outskirts of the way to that's in southern syria and a weapons depot near the capital damascus where prime minister benjamin netanyahu told a cabinet meeting that israel will continue to strike back against any aggression he described the airstrikes as a heavy blow to iran and syria well earlier russia's president vladimir putin caution to avoid any steps that could further escalate