story." i'm sheila macvicar in for ray suarez. today forces loyal to syrian president bashar al-assad entered palmyra, which has been under full i.s.i.l. control for almost a year now. omar al saleh is there, near the syrian border. >> syrian where officials say syrian officials are near, they describe the situation as very tense and the fightings is fears. fierce. people are called to leave palmyra. earlier in the month they start he the campaign to regain palmyra which fell to i.s.i.l. last year. the importance of palmyra, aside from the historical aspect and the archaeological side, to the north is raqqa and that's a i.s.i.l. strong hold. to the east is are deir ez zor, so the road between them, is tremendous key for i.s.i.l. . >> the move the retake palmyra comes days after ar russia pulled its forces out of syria. u.n. envoy says he's aiming at restarting peace talks next month. but the biggest idea is a political transition from the assad regime to a diplomatically based government. james bays from geneva. >> reporter: these talks have been underway for element two weeks a

jazeera washington. >>> i am antonia morra. sheila macvicar is next with "inside story." have a great night. >> it was an historic moment, 88 years in the making. president obama speaking to the government and citizens of communist cuba on the island's capital city. the first sitting president to visit cuba since calvin coolidge, back in 1978. so with when all of the ceremonies, photo ops and speeches were over, was it all just political theater? or did the president really usher in a new era?

era? it's the "inside story". welcome to "inside story," i'm sheila macvicar, in for ray suarez. it was a whirlwind tour for president obama. three days of diplomacy, meetings, and even a baseball game. but while the president seems to be warming up to his cuban counterpart, raul castro, the differences may be more evident than ever before. reporting from havana. >> reporter: it was the most anticipated part of president barack obama's historic visit, a message earmarked directly to the cuban people. >> i have come here to bury the last remnant of the cold war in the americas. because in many ways the united states and cuba are like two brothers who have been estranged for many years, even as we share the same blood. >> reporter: the u.s. leader's speech at the majestic grand theater was broadcast live throughout cuba. watching intently as obama said that he believed in the right of citizens for free speech, to organize, to criticize their government, and choose their government and free and democratic election, all of this without u.s. interference. >> i would love to embrace him,

"inside story". i'm sheila macvicar in for ray suarez. president obama has condemned the deadly attacks in brussels, pledging support from the people of the united states. and back with me, harlilne, pj crowley, former assistant secretary of state and counter terrorism and military expert, michael walsh. given what we have seen today in brussels, and last week in ankora, and earlier this month in abi john, and in november in paris, what do we do? if you were an adviser, you both have been in the position to be advisers, if you were an adviser to this administration, what do you do? do you step up the tempo, do you put boots on the ground or is that what isis wants? to sucker us into a ground war? what do you do? pj. >> i think in terms of two lines. the first is what does it say about the capable of the islamic state, and that is expanding. we have western support for regional forces, whether it's on the iraqi side with the iraqi military. or the syrian side with the collection of hopeful amount to something, and then trying to figure out if there's a common denominator, of all

130 people in paris. america tonight's sheila macvicar was back in the french capital in november, and she's in washington tonight. with this tragedy and termath seems to resemble what we have seen before, and certainly in paris, it certainly seems to resonate with you. >> that's certainly true. what we saw with paris and this attack, and what we know about the two failed attacks that we know of, that have taken place, one in paris and one in belgium, and between the terrible events today, we're talking about a new level of sophistication, a level of sophistication that the counter terrorism officials have not seen before. a discipline in communication, in timing, a discipline in encryption, which is making it extremely difficult for counter terrorism officials, who are stretched very very thin to get on top of this threat. in the same way in which the presumed logistics coordinator from the paris bomber, salah abdelslam, who was arrested just four days ago in brussels, how he was able to evade the police though he was thet wanted man in europe for that period of time, at the same indi