core territories in both iraq and syria. it maintains control of key iraq cities like mosul and fa lieu jasm they estimate that this key the rain will not be retaken this year. the u.n. reports that since isil's invasion of iraq in 2014, nearly 20,000 iraq civilians have been killed. nearly 3,500 people, predominantly women and children are children, are estimated to be isil slaves in iraq. it is no surprise that the training of iraq security forces has been slow. the building of support for sunni tribal forces even slower. in syria, there is no possible strategy to achieve isil's the feat on a timeline that would result in the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of syrians. there is still no ground force that is both willing and able to take cities, nor is the realistic prospect of one emerging soon. in the absence of a realistic strategy to create the conditions for the achievement of u.s. goals, the administration has fallen back on hope. the hope that diplomacy without sufficient leverage can convince russia and iran to abandon bashir al-assad and ight isil. yet we read just thi

consolidated power in its core territories in both iraq and syria. it maintains control of key iraq cities and art military commanders estimate that this key terrain will not be retaken this year. the un reports that since isis invasion of iraq in 2014, nearly 20000 iraq civilians have been killed, nearly 3500 people, predominantly women and children are estimated to be isis slaves in iraq. the secretary division in iraq is no surprise that the training of iraq security forces has been slow and the building of support for sunni tribal forces is even slower. in syria, there is no plausible strategy to achieve the timeline that won't result in the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of syrians. there still no ground force that is still willing to take raqqa. no is there a prospect of one emergency. in the absence of a realistic strategy to greet the conditions for the achievement of u.s. goals, the administration has instead fallen back on hope. the hope that diplomacy without leverage can convince russia and iran to abandon aside and joined the fight against isis. yet, we read just th

carved out territory in war torn iraq and 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

syria and invitations expected to be sent out in hours and sergei fedorov said it's impossible to reach an agreement in syria without inviting kurds to take part in the negotiations. >> translator: the fighters which the u.s. supports and who are fighting i.s.i.l. are trying to prevent them from participating in the syrian talks. this is our common problem. >> reporter: it's not simply unfair and counter productive it's a problem with the u.s. the u.s. believes the kurds are one of its closest allies in the fight against terrorism, i hope the u.s. will not leave this problem unsolved. >> reporter: we have james base in geneva where talks are due to begin later this week and disagreement on the role of the kurdish groups and if they should be included in the negotiations and do we know first of all who is going to be invited and who is likely to accept the invasion to talks? >> well, certainly mr. staffan de mistura was pressed specifically on kurdish representation of these talks when he gave a news conference and he didn't answer the question. but i'm hearing that, yes, the kurds are g

slow. the building of support for sunni tribal forces even slower. in syria, there is no possible strategy to achieve isil's the feat on a timeline that would result in the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of syrians. there is still no ground force that is both willing and able to take cities, nor is the realistic prospect of one emerging soon. in the absence of a realistic strategy to create the conditions for the achievement of u.s. goals, the administration has fallen back on hope. the hope that diplomacy without sufficient leverage can convince russia and iran to abandon bashir al-assad and ight isil. yet we read just this morning that russia's air campaign continues to target moderate pposition groups, may be gaining traction in stabilizing the assad regime. meanwhile, isil continues to metastasize across the region in places like afghanistan, libya, lebanon, and egypt. its attacks are now global, san bernadino, and most recently in istanbul. these should be a wake-up call that the threat to the homeland is real and growing. we need a strategy to destroy isil, not ultimatel

feasibility. it is important politically. signal to sunni arabs in syria and beyond that we stand with budgetary --the the butchery of bashar al-assad. as knows a prize moderate sunni resistance groups in syria -- it is no surprise that moderate sunni resistance groups in syria are more focused on assad than islamic state. butto drive him from power, to weaken him and change the calculations in damascus and tehran and moscow as to what prolonging this conflict will achieve. then, but only then, might me get to the table -- we get to the table. we will not get to the table under these current conditions. i have talked to russians in the middle east, they are on a roll. we are not interested in trying to negotiate the transitional regime. we have to change the facts on the ground, this would be one way to do it. there are several other things we can do to indicate we are serious. we have an anti-isis envoy with whom i worked in iraq. it should be a presidential envoy. we should reinstitute the deputy national security adviser that general douglas so ably filled during my time in iraq, to

of massive humanitarian crisis occurring is syria to have 40,000 civilians starving to death as a result of isil and the conflicts or the confluence of what is happening there. i am interested in your views today to find some answers of what is a real strategy because it will take more than just to the u.s. to resolve this issue. i yield back and look forward to your testimony. >> the committee is pleased to welcome today the former acting director of the caa caa, former undersecretary of defense from intelligence and former ambassador to syria. they have their complete background information that was only the last job. thanks for being here without objection your complete statement will be made part of the record and we will hear any oral comments you would like to make at this time. >> chairman and congresswoman and members of the committee, good morning thank you for the invitation to be here today to talk about an extremely important national security challenge facing the nation. it is an honor to be here and i am humble you have asked me here to hear my thoughts it is good to

, france, filled with thousands of refugees from syria, afghanistan, iraq, sudan, and other countries -- a map of the targets of u.s. bombing campaigns. the refugees have come to try to make passage through the channel tunnel to england. >> u.s. is just increasing the war. actually, u.s. don't want to finish the war. it's their game. it's the game of george w. bush, obama, and other -- all the european union. they don't want to finish. amy: who also speak with french journalist nicolas henin. he was held for 10 months. >> the problem is that with all these bombings -- because everybody at the moment is bombing syria -- all of these bombings have a terrible side effect. and basically, we -- westerners, but not only westerners, also the russians, also the regime -- are pushing the syrian people into the hands of isis. amy: all that and more coming up. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we turn now to two of the biggest stories of 2015, war and europe's worst refugee crisis since world war ii. more than 1 million refugees have c

madaya in western syria but much more has don to be done. >> not good enough. the united nations have done this exactly three months ago and look add where we are at now. >> reporter: to the north, supply trucks from the red crescent aid organization trundle through idlib, heading for foua and kefraya. part of the deal negotiated by the syrian government a few days ago. progovernment forces have been preventing these communities from getting aid. >> i swear to god we are arabs, what children what wrong have they done? this child, what wrong did he commit? >> the world food program says the aid carried to madaya will help 40,000 but only for one month. various people are trapped on sieges across syria. it is vital they are lifted. the united nations has more programs for aid to be delivered across syria but it's questionable whether the aid will arrive. >> there the norwegian refugee council, i don't know if you have been able to talk to anybody you know inside madaya or other of the syrian villages but if you have, what about the conditions there? >> the reports we are getting from ou

the homeland from the group's safe haven in iraq and syria. largely from racka in syria. just like the group did in paris in november. the paris attack, as you know, watt the largest attack -- was the largest attack in western europe since the madrid train bombings in 2004 and the first isis-directed attack in the west ever. what's the difference between the direct threat and an indirect threat? why does it matter? a lone wolf attack, while horrific, is likely to produce fairly limited casualties. on the order of the boston marathon bombing in 2013, three killed. or the shootings at fort hood in 2009, 12 killed. a directed attack, however, carries the potential to be more complex and more sophisticated. multiple simultaneous attacks, for example, and therefore more deadly. again, just like paris, 130 killed, or london in 2005, 56 killed, or even 9/11 itself. the attack in paris was the first manifestation of an effort that isis has made to put together an attack capability in europe, an effort they began less than a year before the paris attack. more attacks in europe are likely. t

good discussions. merkel's proposal includes financial assistance for syria's neighbors who take in refugees and with that aid, they must keep refugees from migrating. but the bavarians are skeptical. we don't believe that a rapid european solution. 3,000 refugees are arisk here every day in the middle of winter. if nothing is done, the number will rise and we won't be able to cope. the problems will escalate. c.s.u. leader continues to ratchet up pressure. they want an alternate policy on march one limits. there are many points of contention that need to be addressed. anchor: we have an expert on international law and politics of the migration crisis and we have a criminal lawyer who represents the refugees in europe. merkel under increasing pressure . does she have to make a change and does she have to make it now? >> i think she does have to make a change because she is losing support from her own party and from the public at large and next elections are looming ahead. in march, there will be elections in three republicic and they were looking at the developments as they are unfo

suffering in some of syria's besieged towns. >>> on him prices continue to fall. crude is now below $31 a barrel, the lowest in more than 12 years. >>> the first arabic language song to top the israeli charts. >>> the turkish government said a young syrian suicide bombers was behind an attack in the historic district of istanbul. ten are dead, among them german tourists. turkey's government will share details of the attack with berlin. we have this report. >> it's the heart of istanbul and one of its most popular tourist spots. this is the square, less than an hour after an explosion, the site cordoned off and security tight. schwa it was a suicide bomb. i saw it. it was chaos, everyone was running around. police didn't see this coming. they were upset, and trying a evacuate the area because they said a second bomb could go off. >> it is the biggest city in turkey with a major attraction for tourists and turks alike. thousands visit every day. the district is also home to the museum and the blue mosque. some in turkey had been expecting attacks since turkish borders launched an offe

colleagues here and myself covered the second international conference on syria two years ago and at that time, we were working, now two years has gone by. the situation has worsened, so what do you think are the main obstacles against the establishment of peace in syria? my second question is what might we expect from the peace talks this time? thank you. >> well, these are far reaching and deep questions. i think as to the obstacles, it's mainly the lack of trust, and the lack of political will to respect that was always said, but has not been done yet. there is no military solution, only a political solution. in words, this was said, but de facto, this was not followed, so that's the main obstacle. we will verify whether this is in fact the truth or not, as to the remainder, we should expect the outcome of the conference. >> the saudis have declared you persona non-grata. >> i myself was very surprised to read that, to see what i was in fact traveling to riyadh, because i was here at the time, and i fully intended to remain to prepare this meeting, so i have no plan, and i had no plan

more displaced from the homes trudging in the snow and bitter cold in syria, 50 families every wasted hour. so we also expect sponsor, supporters and military partners of these parties who all sit in international support group for syria to do their job which is to put much more pressure for peace to do much more facilitation for peace they have the power to do that and let me then as a humble humanitarian appeal in particular to five countries, russia and iran, the united states, saudi arabia and turkey to do all they can and not lose a single hour from this weekend on wards as we do -- we can as humanitarians reach the besieged areas all of them within days of the agreement, all of the millions are out of reach within weeks. we can do it. so finally if they lose this momentum i think they will live to regret it, the parties and their international sponsors will live to regret it for decades because it's not a neutral bad scenarios if we lose momentum now it will get much worse and can get even worse. and people will then leave this place without hope, they will come here to e

next 60 minutes. the invitations to the talks to try to end the conflict in syria have been sent out. >>> syria is probably the most dangerous place on earth to be a child. >>> an appeal for the most vulnerable. >>> stock market panic in china, investors sell their shares causing markets to fall by more than 6%. >>> and the bolivian lake that has dried up, and with it, a way of life. ♪ >>> we begin with those upcoming talks on syria, which are scheduled for friday. for weeks now there has been speculation about who will be invited and who will attend. within the last hour, the invites for those crucial talks in geneva have been sent out. let's go to james bayes in geneva. who got the invite. who is coming, james. >> we don't know. we simply know that the invites have been sent out, jane. it was a very short news release by the united nations, telling us that those invites have been sent out to the talks, again, saying that the talks start on the 29th of january. that was the date that was set 24 hours ago, it hasn't slipped yet, and they were set out in accordance with security res

territories in both iraq and syria. it maintains control of key iraq cities like mosul and fallujah and our military commanders estimate that this key terrain will not be retaken this year. the u.n. reports that since isil's invasion of iraq in 2014, nearly 20,000 iraq civilians have been killed. nearly 3,500 people predominantly women and children are estimated to be isil slaves in iraq. a sectarian division in iraq it is no surprise that the training of iraq's security forces has been slow and the building of support for sunni tribal forces even slower. in syria there is no plausible strategy to achieve isil's defeat on a time line that won't result in the tragic deaths of tens of thousands of syrians. there is still no ground force that is willing and able to retake raqqah nor is there a realistic prospect of one emerging soon. in the absence of a realistic strategy to create the conditions for the achievement of u.s. goals, the administration has instead fallen back on hope -- the hope that diplomacy without sufficient leverage can convince iran to abandon bashar assad and join the

syria and more running room for isis. and like robert, i don't necessarily believe that, right? it depends what comes next. so we need is we need a transition from assad to a government that all syrians can agree with. that's the transition we need. and if that happens, then putin is wrong. assad going is not a bad thing. assad going is a good thing. and what putin has done is made that transition much more difficult. because assad was on the verge of falling essentially. and allowing us to get to that new government, right. and now russia has made that so much more difficult. and what he's done is now made russia a player at the table, right. so russia is now going to get to determine how that negotiation goes because of what he did. i'll let others comment as well. >> yeah. i agree with all that. and i don't think our interests are very well aligned with russia. there is some common ality. but i don't think it's as much as some is have said. i don't think we should be deterred from our objectives in syria from the relatively modest russian intervention. if you look at a few thous

russians and with assad and syria. that is not the cyber want to be a. they've taken sides in iraq with the shia militias who, as we sat remember, just like isis, kidnapped and executed americans in 2007. these are the guys the iranians are supporting. they have taken a side. the russians in syria have taken a side. we need to be clear that we stand against this and that we stand with our allies. saudi arabia, yes, we have differences, no doubt, but saudi arabia has been kind of the bedrock of our regional security policy since fdr met saud on the deck of the quincy in 1945. this is unraveling. salaries went into yemen without consulting with us. they told us a bit in advance but they didn't consult on it. that's unthinkable. we have got to show up those relationships are you start with your traditional friends, then either to your adversaries. not the other way around. >> thank you. it's an important question. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank all of you for your tremendous amount of experience and wisdom to the table. i think it seems like the more we hear the more confused he becomes

aljazeera.com. thanks for watching. >>> syria is probably the most dangerous applies on earth now to be a child. >> an appeal for syria's most vulnerable humanitarian agencies warn an entire generation could be lost. >>> welcome live from our headquarters in doha. also coming up, the syrian army retakes the key town, gaining leverage ahead of a new round of talks. >>> stock market panic in china, investors sell their shares, causing the market to foul by more than 6%. >> praying for a new life by thousands of ethiopia jews calling on israel to open its doors. >> if the current momentum is lost, all syrian parties will regret it. that's the stark warning given by the u.n.'s humanitarian coordinator in direct talks on the syrian crisis are due to get underway in geneva on friday. the war is described as probably the most devastating crisis in the 21st century. saying half of the population that lived in syria in 2010 has been displaced by the conflict. the june receive representative in syria says more than 250,000 people died in the fighting with children, bearing the brunt of the

towards an indonesian national who is believed to have gone to syria sometime ago to join isil, to join that fight. so there is a suspicion that he could have been the one who coordinated this attack while still in syria or iraq, still fighting for isil, so that seems to be the indication. as far as those on the ground who carried out this attack, those five attackers who were killed on thursday morning, they seem to have been quite young people, the suspicion is they are from the suburbs of jakarta as opposed to another part of indonesia which might be more strongly linked to islamic fundamentalism, but certainly no identities yet confirmed of those attackers killed on thursday morning. >> these attacks mostly symbolic, but in the center of an area that is the financial heart of jakarta. what is the mood in the town like now? >> reporter: it certainly was bold. you are right. it was the financial heart. many international hotels, people coming for business or tourism purposes would be staying around this area. many shopping malls as well. the attack happened partly inside one of t

. former army vice chief of staff general john keane, for ambassador to iraq in syria ryan crocker and former white house middle east coordinator philip gordon all testified. >> [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible conversations] >> [inaudible conversations] good morning. the committee meets this morning to continue our focus on u.s. policy and strategy in the middle east. want to begin by saying we all welcome the news this week and news this weekend that four americans have been unjustly held captive in iran were finally released. there was plenty of time to examine the circumstances of the original detention and ultimately released before americans been united with the families is good news. united states must continue to press for the release of those americans still missing or imprisoned in iran including robert levinson and we must push for the release of thousand iranian political prisoners which continues to suppress the -- a previous generation of american leaders once remembered that a record present at the creation of the rules-based international order that has been

doha and also coming up, on the program, food, aid finally arrives for people suffering in syria. oil prices are continuing to fall and crude is now below $31 a barrel, the lowest in more than 12 years. u.s. president barack obama prepares for his last state of the union address. ♪ let's begin with that bomb blast in turkey's largest city and explosion taking place in the historic district which is popular with tourists and there are casualties but no official word yet on the cause of the explosion. al jazeera is joined live now from there. okay, let's speak to emray in istanbul and what is the latest you have for us? >> well, the prime minister amid is holder high-level security meeting in ankara which includes the top brass of the military as well as the minister of interior and intelligence officials. this is taking place in ankara and is ongoing. authorities have not pointed at a cause of the blast which took place 40 meters behind me but they said they are not ruling out the possibility of a suicide attack. what we know so far is around 10:20 in the morning local time, 8:20gmt

jazeera live from london also coming up, a diplomatic push to end the war this syria and leaders from turkey and the gulf states hold meetings. state of emergency in seven u.s. states as a huge blizzard hits the country's east coast. >> i'm harry in south africa and i'm going to show you what it looks like and how the concept is helping save lives. ♪ tunisia prime minister held an emergency cabinet meeting to discuss this week's wave of protest by unemployed and cut short france on thursday following four days of violence and nightly curfew has been in place across the country since friday and ministry says more than 400 people arrested in the last few days. let's go live to tunis with our correspondent and hashem is anything emerging of what they might do to take control of the situatio situation? >> reporter: basically the government says that it faces two major issues, one the need to maintain stability and stem the rise of processes that have been threatening to spin out of control. and the number two issue is to address the issues of poverty and unemployment but the government

talks on the syria crisis are to be sent out in the coming hours. we are live in geneva. stark market panic in china. the world health organisation issues a new warning on the zika virus suspected of causing birth defectss in the americas. activists say government forces have recaptured one of the important towns in syria. sheikh maskin list the city of damascus with deraa. >> reporter: it has taken the army weeks of intense fighting with rebels to take this town in deraa. state television showed this video after securing lines. battles are reported to be continuing on the outskirts. the importance of the ruined town cannot be understated. it lies on the main road linking the capital damascus to deraa where the problem started nearly five years ago. government forces had given up much of this territory until the russian armed forces began their intervention last september >> things have turned around 180 degrees for the regime since the russians came in. just last summer the al-nusra front, the al-qaeda affiliate, was making gains in the province. now there is this significant reversa

syria. to deal with the refugee crisis that it has spawned, and the violent extremism to which it has contributed. let me just say a word about that quickly. much if not all -- no, i suppose much is the most accurate assessment -- of the conflict of the last century was a conflict between nation states. it was much of it defined by what henry kissinger has defined as the balance of power of the great gain. but that is not what is defining the conflict that we see today. i think most of you would make the judgment that there is not the same sense of threat that nation states are ready to put it all on the line given the stakes and the types of weapons that we have today which do act as deterrent. but what we are seeing today are non-state actors, who have a very different sense of the stakes, who don't react the same way to the concept of deterrence. many of whom have decided, by the way, that they just as soon die as live. which is not the norm for most people's judgment. so our strategy is different. our strategy with respect to syria certainly is threefold. but what we're seeing eme

wrap up debate and then onto a procedural vote on a bill that bars syria and iraqi refugees until background checks have determined they are not a threat to national security. the house did pass the bill in december. the white house says it opposes the measure. now for live coverage on the senate here on c-span2. the chaplain dr. barry black will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. eternal spirit, who has set our fragile years in the heart of your eternity, we find gladness and peace under the shadow of your wings. today, provide our lawmakers with wisdom to embrace the right priorities. may they strive to sacrifice for the things that will live beyond their years, so that history will celebrate their foresight and courage. grant that their lives and labor will reflect your greatness, compassion and love. keep them from embracing a false patriotism that would render unto caesar what belongs to you. stir them to new heights of excellence, as you open their eyes to the unfolding of your loving providence. we pray in your great name. the presiding officer: please jo

arrived in geneva. meanwhile, air strikes in syria continue. amateur video released today shows jets bombing targets in the city of homs. no word yet on casualties. before today the opposition delegates had insisted on a halt to syrian and russian air strikes as a precondition for attending the talks. al jazeera's james bays has more of the negotiations from geneva. >> reporter: a very large group of press here. quite chaotic scenes when they arrived here because we all want to know the position, the exact position of this, the main opposition grouping. when he came here, the spokesman, said that they still believe that that u.n. resolution at the end of december means there are thing which should be put in place now before talks take place. he said they were not his group's conditions, they were conditions of the u.n. secretary council. i then pressed him as to whether these conditions had to be met before they would sit down for talks. >> reporter: you say it's not your conditions. if those conditions are not met, will you engage in talks? >> we are ready, we are here to make this

growing unemployment. claims of russian air strikes in syria of killing and injuring civilians. the grim fallout of zika, the mosquito-born virus. >> reporter: i'm with all the sports. the action at the australian open. play was suspended on the main arena as the coach of star collapsed in the stands >>> first the tunisia prime minister is holding an emergency cabinet meeting to talk about this week's wave of protests by the unemployed. he cut short a visit to france on thursday. a nightly curfew has been in place across the country since friday. we go live to our correspondent who is in tunis capital. tell us about this emergency cabinet meeting. >> reporter: the meeting is underway and topping the agenda is how to contain discontent and diffuse tension. we think that the government is going to come out saying or taking some concrete steps about how to contain and find thousands of jobs over the country. he said in his speech that when he took over he found about 700,000 tunisians without jobs and with the constraints of the budget he may not be able to offer jobs to all those peop

>> stepping up the fight against isil. the group faces losses across iraq and syria. >> i'm david foster. you're watching al jazeera live from london. also coming up, syriaens burning anything they can find to keep war. >>> pakistani taliban condemns an attack on an university that kil killed 20 people and wounded dozens of others. >>> and the reality show where the name of the game is to become president. >> the fight against the islamic state in iraq and the levant, one of the areas on which they focused was the need to capitalize on recent gains against the group. isil has lost about a quarter of its territory in iraq and syria, and defense ministers from the u.s. and france hosted the meeting. the australian, british, dutch were part of the talks. russia was not part of the talks. they are also bombing isil, but they were not invited to paris. secretary of state john kerry broached the idea when he met his russian counterpart. >> this was the highest level of meetings. their objective to accelerate and intensify the campaign in iraq and syria. the u.s. navy launches bombing ra

the uk'sn role in sw syria. this is one hour 45 minutes. >> good afternoon, country. thank you very much coming to the first liaison committees public meeting of the session. i first of all want to establish that you all are going to continue the practice of the tob last parliament at the. three times a session? >> yes. i mean, if we all agree.parliamp i thought less of it worked quite well to have three assions, one of the state, one later in the year. year. i think this idea of picking th subjects by you rather than -- unhappy either way. >> the problem for the session,m as edited of the backbone try to get you for christmas but that was impossible.klog. we are very grateful if you could make two more appearances themas, but that session. if y >> between easter and summer recess and one -- >> i think it will be two before summer. >> i had not been on the. i think that may be more ha't difficult. >> would you like to -- >> let me take that away and it.ld really that >> prime minister, there was ai, prospect towards a cease-fireh andat negotiations relied on the international commun

there in syria. we should stop these massacres. save our children, the remaining children of syria and we are willing to do anything that puts an end to this war. we want to put an end to this isis, to terrorism in syria, we want to see a new syria. >> they want to see measures put in place but no longer does it seem that is a condition for the start of talks. i understand that the opposition delegation is likely, and i have this from a number of diplomatic sources, likely to see steffen dimasora. not clear where the meeting will take place. some sources telling me it will be at the u.n. some say it will be away from the u.n. i think it's then a parallel meeting in many ways of the one we saw on friday with the syrian government. once those two meetings have taken place, i think there will be a little bit more discussion. but it's just possible we could actually see both sides in the same place. not the same room because that won't happen for some considerable time but maybe both in the u.n. and geneva on monday. i think that will be the best hope of the u.n. team trying to mediate

syria. >> the u.s. looking for an end to syria's war. vice president joe biden is in turkey. >> that none of us or any other -- are under any illusions that obstacles don't still exist. >> secretary of state john kerry meets foreign ministers in the gulf region. you are watching al-jazerra live from head quarterbacks. also ahead, the grim fallout of zika, the mosquitos-borne virus calls for travel warnings. >>> the u.s. braces for a massive storm with record snowfalls predicted. hello, the u.s. is making ing a diplomatic push to end the war in syria. the secretary of state, john kerry is in soughted e arabia t meeting with leaders from the gulf. kerry says he is confident peace talks scheduled for next week will go ahead but did not confirm the exact day it starts. the u.s. vice president joe biden is in istanbul meeting with turkey's prime minister. the war in syria is in its 5th year, forced millions of people from their homes. turkey has taken many of those escaping from the fighting. our number of countries including the u.s., france, russia and turkey have all been launching air

has said for the first time that a, quote, syria-linked suicide bomber is believed to be behind the istanbul blast. this is coming from president erduan speaking to a yearly gathering of turkish ambassadors. he is also saying that some foreigners are among those killed in the suicide bombing so the president is calling it a suicide bombing. he strongly condemns the attack and all of this while the prime minister is holding an emergency security meeting in ankara with heads of the armed forces and the minister of interior. >> em re, last year, turkey was the site of several attacks. squarely aimed at tourist. how will they address security concerns in istanbul? the turkish government, you know, when you speak to turkish officials, they will tell you, you know, despite all efforts and despite all efforts taken by turkey, despite everything that is being done along this extremely long border, it is quite difficult to keep those borders completely securities. i think we will see quite increased, the walls, i imagine, being built alongtie's 800 long border with syria will speed up. we wi

i said to my staff at the state department, engaged in the syria conflict at the end of last year, you know, i'm tired of going out and bragging that we're the biggest donor to refugee needs, write a check, help the refugees. that can go on endlessly. we keep writing checks, we can set up a new camp. the question is, can we make peace and end this endless supply of refugees? in the past 4 1/2 years, one syrian in 20 has been killed or wounded. one in five is a refugee. one in two has been displaced. and the reality is there will be no end to this crisis, no end to the pressures on on lebanon, on jordan, on turkey, no end to the flow of people to greece and bulgaria and to germany and europe, no end to this crisis, unless there is an end to the conflict itself. one person stands in the way of that. and that is bashar al-assad. that is why the third pillar of our strategy is to de-escalate the conflict in syria. and that can only happen through a political transition. every leader i've met with says to me, there's no military solution, you have to have a political solution. i mean,

government in the war against i.s.i.l. fighters. but in neighboring syria where i.s.i.l. also controls territory, iran and the u.s. work at cross-purposes. that's because they back opposing sides in syria's civil war. in fact, in almost every contentious area and issue facing the middle east today, syria, israel, yemen, and the flow of oil to the world, iran and the u.s. are on opposite sides. nowhere is that more apparent than in the straight of hormuz, a narrow waterway that connects oil tanker traffic between the waters of the gulf and the indian ocean. at its narrowest point just 21 miles separates iran from the countries of the aarabian peninsula on the other side. let me give you a sense of how much a choke point it is. across the strait, there are nuclear facilities, iran considers that a threat and says it will mine this strait if it field a threat. it has done it before. doing it for other vessels too. besides military force iran has many ways of wielding power and influence in the middle east. it also uses its soft power to win the hearts and minds of people living in the reg

need the violence in syria get off to a difficult start in geneva, the fighting continues on the ground. at least 60 people have been killed in a triple bombing in the syrian capitol. the attack happened near a revered shrine in damascus. is ill is claiming responsibility for the blast. the u.s. secretary of state john kerry has been speaking about the situation in syria and those peace talks. >> in light of what is at stake in these talks, i appeal to both sides to make the most of this moment, to seize the opportunity for serious negotiations, to negotiate in good faith with the goal of making concrete, measurable progress in the days immediately ahead. the world is hoping that both sides will move quickly to meet the needs of millions of desperate syrians to reduce the pressure on neighboring countries, to reduce the levels of migration and to help restore peace and stability. the main topics on the agenda for these negotiations include arrangements for a nationwide cease fire and establishing a path to a political transition that will bring this conflict to an end in accordan

differences and keep the syria talks alive. >>> we've live in doff volunteers where world leaders and shakers are talking about the challenges for the global economy. ♪ >>> chinese investments grow, some african schools begin teaching mandarin. not everyone is happy. >>> the head of the pakistan taliban is strongly condemning an attack on a university following an earlier claim of responsibility by a taliban splitter group. at least 19 people were killed including a professor and several students. the attack took place not far from peshawar in the northwest. marian has hon reports. >> security forces now patrol the fields alongside the university. gunmen had earlier taken advantage of thick winter fog to scale the walls, storm buildings, and open fire on students and teachers. >> we heard firing from the back of the cam pugs. we thought some people were fighting. then the gunfire increased. we said stay in the rooms, don't go out, then the security forces came. >> classes at university had begun for the day. 3,000 students study here. there were hundreds of others at the university,

in syria. arab leaders accusing iran of creating chaos. a hollywood actor leads the mexican police to the world's most wanted drug lord. >> reporter: i'm here with the spo sports today > >>> tens of thousands of people who are starving to death in three syrian towns will have to wait at least another day before help reaches them. aid agencies had hoped that trucks with food and medicine would arrive on sunday. some people are so desperate that they're eating leaves and grass. >> they are ready to deliver aid to three sillages in-- villages in syria. we're talking about a madaya which ask on the outskirts of damascus. that has been under siege by government and allied forces. another area is idlib where people are under siege from rebel forces. the u.n. has been helping to negotiate this deal from back in september. that's when they had hoped to agree on a ceasefire with these two differing sides and then last week some fighters were released from the north of madaya and their families as well. it has taken until this stage, a complicated stage, to help people that are in need of ai

apply pressure to isil in iraq and syria in more fronts than at any other point in the campaign. this pressure is having an affect against isil. it's also generating additional opportunities to further accelerate the implementation of the campaign. yesterday at fort campbell, i described to our troopers there, who were about to deploy, the three key objectives of our campaign. first, to destroy the isil parent tumor in iraq and syria. and collapse its two power centers in raqqa and mosul. second, to combat the isil tumor worldwide. and third, to protect the homeland. i also laid out the operational concept behind our campaign, to enable local, motivated forces to defeat isil and sustain the defeat and to do that enabling by providing on our part a clear plan, american leadership, a global coalition, and the wielding of the incredible sweep of capabilities we have, ranging from air power, special forces, cybertools, intelligence, equipment, mobility, logistics, training, advice and assistance. i described the coalition military campaign plan at some length yesterday, but also the fact

iraq, it turned out very badly. in libya, we intervened but it did not occupy. in syria, we neither intervened nor occupied, and it turned out very badly. the lesson is overall caution there is a single answer or model for how to deal with these problems again has been said. so i would say there is not a single mistake. there is not a single answer for what we should do going forward. >> thank you. thank you, mr. chairman. >> thank you, i want to thank a lot of you for being here. general keen, i wanted to ask you, and certainly we have seen iran twice test ballistic missiles this fall. we know the administration has issued some minimal sanctions frankly after the hostage release to address the ballistic missile tests. do you think their tests posts the inking of this agreement? obviously in clear violations is sufficient? what does this -- as i hear all of you stand, no matter where you stand on the iran agreement, we have to be vigilant going forward. and what do you make of this? >> i think it is a totally in adequate response. this is a violation of u.n. resolution. united state

the same group in november, today said they would partner to counter the threat. syria's government says militants from the islamic state group, or isis, have carried out a massacre in a city isis controls in eastern syria. the alleged attack on civilians happened in deir al-zour. a province adjacent to the isis stronghold of raqqa. syrian state-run news agency says isis executed 300 elderly people, women, and children in deir al-zour yesterday. the britain-based syrian observatory for human rights said isis shot or beheaded at least 135 people, and more than half were government soldiers. the human rights group said isis also kidnapped 400 people in the city. the syrian civil war has claimed more than 250,000 lives and caused more than four million syrians to become refugees. a pair of rare, winter tornadoes cut through central florida before dawn today. one twister touched down in the sarasota area, 50 miles southeast of tampa, and two people died when their mobile home was destroyed. the national weather service says the deadly tornado had winds of up to 135 miles an hour. >> sre