syria found the idea of a p.l.o. backed regime and never known a recipe for disaster it feared such areas would provoke israel into military action that would drag syria into war. for their part israel and the united states also took a dim view of the rise of the lebanese left and its palestinian arabs in one of the more bizarre alignments of interest in the oven on syria decided to throw its weight behind the christians with a green light from washington and tacit israeli consent syria sent its army into lebanon in june of one nine hundred seventy six to stem the palestinian leftist advance. got a polygamy story out of the. and that's what it of syria was asked to intervene to curb the expansion of the palestinian and lebanese leftists. the lebanese left had become troublesome to arab regimes. the leader of the left come out jumblatt was viewed as a threat to lebanese and arab stability. another factor was the mutual dislike between arafat and syrian president assad. syria's military intervention was stepped up foll

the solace of syria was subject to. a deal between the jordan russia and america that was decided on in september of last year and it was confirmed during the summit between fourteen and trump last november and now this is a serious breach of this at the core of this he was training in the presence. is that iran demand was that iran has to be. forty to fifty kilometers from far from this border this is the core of the deed and today they said back to will decide that you're reigning in the presence and its capability to engage with since day one you're on was trying to change the rules of engagement. is retired so now russia is russia testing that ability of america to defend this deed is it trying to test that readiness of that effort as a all or that is a deal that has been already. decided on and russia which. according to which iran will withdraw from that is that i.e.d. border and in exchange of that russia is the claiming that this will be on that at this point all let's just say what do you think is that sammy se

from libya syria somalia yemen and iran. and it was the president's right to impose a ban because national security is his responsibility donald trump was clearly delighted this is a great victory for our constitution we have to be tough and we have to be safe and we have to be secure but in what was described as a furious dissent from the bench of liberal justice sonia sotomayor referred to cannes that trumps comparison of the travel ban to the decision that mandated the detention of japanese americans during world war two sort of my all said taking all the relevant evidence together a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was driven primarily by anti muslim animus rather than by the government's asserted national security justifications politicians and activists are now expressing concern that the supreme court has a own opinion that he and he alone is in control of the country's national security and that he can act without oversight in deciding who comes into this country with this decision we are conc

syrian forces that had entered lebanon with only token representation from several other arab states syria had prevailed that fellow at the it had. been president assad's view was that syria and its ability to achieve strategic parity with israel had to be supported by two strong wings a lebanese wing and a palestinian wing that is if syria was to have influence on the political scene it had to become the sole legitimate representative of syria lebanon and the palestinians while lebanon was in the throes of conflict on another front there were moves towards peace. in one thousand nine hundred eighty seven egyptian president anwar sadat a longstanding ally of out of fat made a groundbreaking visit to israel to sue for peace in exchange for land artifact was done but i'd have thought had been making his own peace moves his representative in london cited how many had been promoting the palestinian vision of

from libya syria somalia yemen and iran. and it was the president's right to impose a ban because national security is his responsibility donald trump was clearly delighted this is a great victory for our constitution we have to be tough and we have to be safe and we have to be secure but in what was described as a furious dissent from the bench of liberal justice sonia sotomayor referred to cannes that trumps open comparison of the travel ban to the decision that mandated the detention of japanese americans during world war two sort of my all said taking all the relevant evidence together a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was driven primarily by anti muslim animus rather than by the government's asserted national security justifications. politicians and activists are now expressing concern that the supreme court has affirmed doldrums own opinion that he and he alone is in control of the country's national security and that he can act without oversight in deciding who comes into this country with. we

borders with these like they don't want actually to have another lebanon in this particular part of syria so we believe that there is an understanding between that is that it is on the russians and that understanding as she was reached it during israeli prime minister visit to more school early last month. that. that understanding as i said that is likely would allow actually the syrian regime to be captured this this this part of syria in exchange for the russians actually to keep the iranians away from the borders. and the americans for me seem to have given in the sense that we all know that the state department issued this statement a couple of days ago abandoning their allies the syrian opposition factions on the ground by telling them don't. on us because the conclusions of the syrian opposition was like this the americans will not allow the syrian regime to advance and they will behave the same way as they did in the north east symbiote of syria when the united states actually resisted any sort of advancement by the city of and by the iranians in the kurdish territories in the nort

special envoy to syria our diplomatic editor james faces more. it's a pattern of violence that syria has seen a number of times before like darius aleppo in eastern guta it's been a carefully planned military offensive by the assad regime using artillery and other indiscriminate heavy weapons the syrian government's planes assisted by the might of russian air power the u.n. special envoy briefing the security council by video link said he was deeply concerned it could be like limbo and if they're caught that combined together in terms of the population in the area some forty five thousand people all of fifty dollars in the ear have already been displaced due to fly during the u.s. and its allies called out russia saying it and the syrian government would breaching an agreement on deescalation in southwest syria made last year the united states can confirm that russia itself launched air strikes in the southwest the escalation zone in recent days to be clear the unilateral military operations underway by the assad regime and russia in southwest sy

syria found the idea of a p.l.o. backed regime and never known a recipe for disaster it feared such areas would provoke israel into military action that would drag syria into war. for their part israel and the united states also took a dim view of the rise of the lebanese left and its palestinian arabs in one of the more bizarre alignments of interest eleven on syria decided to throw its weight behind the christians with a green light from washington and tacit israeli consent syria sent its army into lebanon in june of one nine hundred seventy six to stem the palestinian leftist advance. get a polygamist story out of the. and that's what it of syria was asked to intervene to curb the expansion of the palestinian and lebanese leftists. the lebanese left had become troublesome to arab regimes. the leader of the left come out jumblatt was viewed as a threat to lebanese and arab stability. another factor was the mutual dislike between arafat and syrian president assad. syria's military intervention was stepped up followi

the latest coalition offensive finally get this story the kind of coverage it deserves journalism in syria suffers from a different kind of problem does the truth even stand a chance that a brutal murder of a kashmiri editor sends a chilling message to anyone trying to report from the reach and an american cartoonist becomes collateral damage in donald trump's war against the u.s. media he's out of a job. for a conflict described by amnesty international as the forgotten war yemen has found itself in an unusual place over the past week in the news the reason for that is the assault by the combined forces of saudi arabia and the united arab emirates on the port city of hold data the u.n. already calls yemen the world's worst humanitarian crisis and that port is where yemenis get seventy percent of their aid supplies while it's the saudi led coalition that is wage this war from the air over the past three years hitting multiple civilian targets many media outlets describe yemen as a proxy war which is why you'll be familiar with the term iran backed who's the rebels but how much attention ha

five squadrons of the iraqi air force some sixty at craft were flown to to syria. make up for losses sustained by the syrian air force so wolfish you can see some maturity in the iraqi prison sort of the syrian pilots up tied for the bottom even the most his then how come pilots from iraq are up for the fight why the syrians are reluctant to leave base so it turned into a competition to carry out their missions and he did watch what he said. with the arrival of the participation of iraqi forces in the war the jordanian army was now straining at the leash. have a happy if. it was very embarrassing for us i mean it embarrassed of making the same a lot because there were two arab countries who had territory occupied in one nine hundred sixty seven and jordan was a third arab country whose territory ha been occupied in one nine hundred sixty seven but those two other countries are fighting to regain what they lost while you're not i remember i attended one of the meetings in held with the military and i saw how much pressure they put on him to go to war. but doesn't gi

its attempt to try indisposed to defeat i said has been using overwhelming force particularly in in syria and also in mosul in iraq the find is now of amnesty international to what extent could the change the rules of engagement in the near future if the coalition meets similar situation in different places amnesty and. reports that they had that if you had dozens of people each one of them told what. was with them and their families many people from their families were killed and the one being of the. coalition and the cats still in front of these witnesses who saw their families. being killed so there are people killed there are someone who killed them the u.s. led coalition so to do what very thick a shingle doing need now other then this witness and this proof from the u.s. led. war planes or artillery or missiles or other things so i mean there is the necessity for an inquiry mission in order to put an end of this bad conduct during the war. draw that the syrian army is not there to. what they're called for to amende and the conservation and some of the fight the shores to leave the

in light of its findings in syria as well as souls. but there is an urgency to tackle the troubling spate of such dangerous and indiscriminate attacks attacks that have already cost the lives of too many civilians so yeah go. let's go live now to the hagar seriously parker is the knave is there any support for the new case proposal to in hans the role of the o.p.c. w. well you know there is of course initial support the u.k. has the backing of ten other permanent members of the a.p.c. w. to be able to hold this meeting in the first place we believe that that number is now possibly increased to around twenty but what we've seen really over the past couple of hours is really the negotiators and delegates here going round in circles with the russian federation raising technical point after technical points in order to slow things down they have also been supported on the sidelines with points of order being repeatedly made by iran and also by syria what we have been waiting for is a row call vote on whether or not to adopt the agenda to m

syria is not its benefit it's. and it's not to russia's benefit either an iranian israeli confrontation with threaten the assad government's hold on power and moscow's achievements it has been a difficult balancing act for russia which enjoys good relations with iran and israel israel doesn't just want iranian and iranian backed troops away from its borders it wants them out of syria altogether israel sees them as a strategic threat and wants russia to ensure that their military influence doesn't grow it's not just israel's demand other regional international powers want to limit iran's influence moscow to wants a strong syrian government to help broker an internationally backed political settlement not interested in long term run ins increasing influence in syria because there. were so basically russia is interested more in stronger than. russia and iran have long had different goals and agendas in syria their alliance saved the syrian government but now that the war is winding down many actors will be jockeying f

but out of fact signaling his displeasure with syria charles de gaulle tickets. within days of the departure of the last palestinian fighters lebanese president elect bashir gemayel was assassinated. breaking the american brokered agreement israeli forces moved into west beirut under the pretext of keeping the peace. is really is accused the p.l.o. of leaving two thousand of its fighters in beirut's refugee camps the charge was a fabrication. the israelis quickly encircled the refugee camps and brought in their allies from the christine lebanese forces militia. on september sixteenth one thousand nine hundred two dozens of lebanese forces militia men entered the some branch of the refugee camps. we knew of course that the israeli had surrounded the camp and we also knew that in the night that flares was there that the campus was lighted up we saw it from from distance and after i remembered that night it was very strange it was so quiet it was like a ghost town and we didn't realize that inside this ghost town was the killing and the shooting. under the watchful

the decision taken in tel aviv was typically bold to go on the attack to push on into syria itself. to make it to the other side and the game of fire. and we are going to read. and out. and out lie down and write viruses. and alcohol every week there will be out. there. the effort to take syria out of the war had already started the previous day with strikes by the powerful israeli air force. in the worst possible conditions we penetrated deep into syria to damascus and blew up their air force headquarters and the general staff both of them full of fear. these were the first of a string of attacks targeting syrian infrastructure. and then stage syrian population going up on the roof to watch the bombs fall and most of all the exciting. truth had been sunk in the country was mortal danger. alongside the heavy aerial strikes israel would launch its ground offensive. to arm the divisions would attack across the nine hundred sixty seven cease fire line known as the popular line along the damascus road towards the syrian capital sixty kilometers to the east. at first light on eleventh of

russia providing air support for the offensive iraq is the last rebel stronghold in the southwest of syria donald trump says any migrants who as he put it invade the u.s. should be sent home without appearing before a judge he's continuing his hardline rhetoric on migration despite a u. turn on separating children from their parents the government's now trying to reunite the families in a remote detention center you are right up to date with all our top stories up next the listening post i will see you very soon by. and then we have new generations growing up to understand how the nations of the natural well then soon there will be nothing left and will suffer primatologist and conservationist to jane good will towards to al-jazeera. tonight the government forcing a military increase is like a lot of pressure to bring it to. look out of other. places. ok next. time. hello i'm richard gere's virgin europe the listening post here are some of the media stories we're tracking this week the war in the yemen will the latest coalition offensive finally get this story the kind of coverage it deser

from libya syria somalia yemen and iran a. and it was the president's right to impose a ban because national security is his responsibility donald trump was clearly delighted this is a great victory for our constitution we have to be tough and we have to be safe and we have to be secure but in what was described as a furious dissent from the bench of liberal justice sonia sotomayor referred to cannes that trumps only comparison of the travel ban to the decision that mandated the detention of japanese americans during world war two sort of my all said taking all the relevant evidence together a reasonable observer would conclude that the proclamation was driven primarily by anti muslim animus rather than by the government's asserted national security justifications. politicians and activists are now expressing concern that the supreme court is a dog. that he and he alone is in control of the country's national security and that he can without oversight in deciding who comes into this country with this. we want. that donald trum

to iran in syria. russian troops. are ready to deploy whatever they want in syria it wasn't the first message russian president vladimir putin told syrian president bashar assad that foreign military forces will leave syria once a robust political process gets underway and avoid later clarified this included iran. days later the russian foreign minister sergei lavrov echoed the same thing and said the syrian army should be the only force deployed along the border with israel iran's initial reaction was that no one can force it to do anything it later said it supported russian efforts to bring the south of the country under syrian army control and that iranian military advisers are not present in the area. received a strong message from israel with the stepped up air strikes that it won't tolerate iranian presence in south syria that's why iran withdraw from solving syria the iranians know that engaging in a war with israel in syria is not its benefits and it's not to russia's benefit either an iranian israeli confront

can a trial the largest city in golan would be returned to syria. in news on the fifth of june nine hundred seventy four the agreement was signed in geneva by senior military officers of both sides. of. the war in october was officially over on both fronts after two hundred forty three days of fighting. kissinger persuaded assad chemicals and get him to remove the gorilla. in the sense he tricked syria to disengage the grip of the gulag with . the syria recovered a truck which the israelis grew up before the the tiny sliver of territory with everything else in israeli hands. the egyptians got what they wanted out of it so you know sadat had realistic goals about recovering the sinai and the war led to the recovery of the sinai for egypt so you've got to see that as a win for the egyptians. for the syrians they don't recall the golan so you've got to see that as a defeat essential. for the israelis say they were adverse to the course of the war but they had suffered very heavy casualties so you kind of have to see it as a bit of a defeat for the isra

in light of its findings in syria as well as souls. but there is an urgency to tackle the troubling spate of such dangerous and indiscriminate attacks attacks that have already cost the lives of too many civilians so yeah go. they've barker's out the conference in the hague. the special session of the a p c w is now underway this meeting was called of the of the united kingdom with the backing of ten members of the a.p.c. there one hundred ninety three in total one hundred thirty have registered to take part in this meeting we now know that roughly around twenty countries have lent their support to the u.k.'s proposal to extend the mandate of the p.c. w to allow it to apportion attribute blain for chemical weapons attacks at the moment the organization is simply a technical body that can say whether or not a chemical weapon has been used more often than not it can also say what weapon has been used but it falls short of apportioning blame and in light of recent attacks in seoul spree with the poisoning of former russian agent sergei sc

administration sent gates from northwestern syria. sources to the northeast. a few from. river and there's just a few other not that came around us trying to get fairly soon gauging support to the stabilization efforts for syria. i think there's truth to all of those three factors here. and there's significant debate right now and suicide using incision officials in the congress about what would be the most appropriate next etting disengagement speed dangerous it will collapse a civil society and set syria we know that congress is resupport of the civil society. operation in the north north and southern syria as we all believe in the sunni to values so we'll see what you know you reveal at the end of this debate the white helmets in the past have been accused mainly by the asaad government and its supporters of being spies and activists rather than aid workers in fact russia accused the white helmets of staging some of the scenes of chemical attacks how do you think the assad government and russia are going to react to the fact that they're being given less money. i think

the last time we travelled we were escaping the bombs in syria. but. after all they cared about was my high school certificate it was my only chance to get to university where you could deal with the rest of it. it was hard not to think about our lives back in syria in these last moments. as you look. at the career and the regular at the get them of their. mind if that mine are. i miss the simple things most in the house that my father built. you to have a show work anywhere surely because that is on the shift. that you don't believe. i keep. them of and that has a clock that i mean look fast and i'll most likely yeah and. this is the jet is that got him so i was like well let me. just and this and. look under any you can experiment harder maybe born again and i would encourage more comfort but it can be it is going to get us our income in. but doing the worst of us our machine he'd been. and would fail michael lefkow that he is afraid of going for she can. push and i. say what about. but obama. knows a lot of that will. stop and. took b.t.n. the only

syria is not its benefit. and it's not to russia's benefit either an iranian israeli confrontation with threaten the assad government's hold on power and moscow's achievements it has been a difficult balancing act for russia which enjoys good relations with iran and israel israel doesn't just want iranian and iranian backed troops away from its borders it wants them out of syria altogether israel sees them as a strategic threat and wants russia to ensure that their military influence doesn't grow. it's not just israel's demand other regional international powers want to limit iran's influence moscow to wants a strong syrian government to help broker an internationally backed political settlement not interested in long term run ins increasing influence in syria because they. were so basically russia is interested more in stronger. russia and iran have long had different goals and agendas in syria their alliance save that the syrian government but now that the war is winding down many actors will be jockeying fo

to mention the security and stability of those come as a consequence of the war next door in syria the isis attacks that have taken place inside sarky and the fact that the opposition has been extremely loud in the past few years in terms of being very critical of the way they view he has managed and his party has managed the country coming out of this election not over fifty percent winning gets in the first wrong there's going to be a vindication as far as the party and her one is concerned that they still very much represent the majority of the people not for those maybe looking from the outside fifty percent he's seen possibly as a small margin but when you consider the fact that the second closest person or the with the closest person while the truth is as you mentioned there an inch of my heart of the injury of the c.h.p. and he's not looking likely to reach more than twenty seven percent of the votes when you're talking about a big difference almost double or between those two contenders so it's historic in the sense that you know no one will not only be the first president unde

but out of fact signaling his displeasure with syria charles to build degrees. within days of the departure of the last palestinian fighters lebanese president elect bashir gemayel was assassinated. breaking the american brokered agreement israeli forces moved into west beirut under the pretext of keeping the peace. is really is accused the p.l.o. of leaving two thousand of its fighters in beirut refugee camps the charge was a fabrication. the israelis quickly encircled the refugee camps and brought in their allies from the christine lebanese forces militia. on september sixteenth one thousand eighty two dozens of lebanese forces militia men entered the some branch of the refugee camps. we knew of course that the israeli had surrounded the camp and we also knew that in the night the flares was there that the campus was lighted up we saw it from distance and after i remembered that night it was very strange it was so quiet it was like a ghost town and we didn't realize that inside this ghost town was the killing and the shooting. under the watchful eyes of there

to take the city rock lies in the north of syria and i still declared it the capital of its caliphate into a thousand and fourteen i still controlled large territories of iraq and syria rocka was a main stronghold the planning center for attacks around the world especially after mosul fell to iraqi forces but in a toll it's also lost iraq part of the much of the city is in growing and many of its three hundred thousand population fled during the fighting let's bring in our guests joining us from london and hide syria consulting research fellow of the chatham house from beirut. military analyst and retired general in the lebanese army and by skype from a writer in italy is just well and this director of the center for middle east studies at the university of oklahoma thank you all for joining us. can the outcome of the report legal action against the u.s. led coalition well basically the scale of. casualties on the ground among civilians is what the report i thing is asking for because we don't know the scale exactly what we know so far is that their report confirms what locals have be

syria found the idea of a p.l.o. backed regime and never known a recipe for disaster it feared such areas would provoke israel into military action that would drag syria into war. for their part israel and the united states also took a dim view of the rise of the lebanese left and its palestinian arabs in one of the more bizarre alignments of interest eleven on syria decided to throw its weight behind the christians with a green light from washington and tacit israeli consent syria sent its army into lebanon in june of one thousand nine hundred. six to stem the palestinian leftist advance. get a polygamous story out of it and that's what it of syria was asked to intervene to curb the expansion of the palestinian and lebanese leftists. the lebanese left had become troublesome to a regime that. the leader of the left come out john blatt was viewed as a threat to lebanese and arab stability. another factor was the mutual dislike between arafat and syrian president assad. syria's military intervention was stepped up foll

against syria's government began seventy years ago now it's fair. eight may have international implications it has a very important strategic value for israel because it's about its north ern border the un warns the situation could turn into a humanitarian crisis many of those who try to flee now have nowhere to go katia lopez so there jaan al-jazeera. and al-jazeera correspondent tom else well they has this update from the jordanian side of the city. well. the cease fire announced friday and i mean not only held for a few minutes there's been uninterrupted shelling across billy just south of syria namely in the eastern and western countries sod's of daraa province according to eyewitness accounts we received the areas were all residential homes and makeshift hospitals which is no longer operational as a result of the intense bombardment as we speak we can still hear the shelling a true massacre took place in the town of possum in dars western countryside the ceasefire collapsed in this town where residents of neighboring areas have taken refuge ove

as fighting continues in syria the southern province rebels say the u.s. has told them you're on your own. but i have to see because this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up. zimbabwe's president survives an apparent grenade attack on the campaign trail. the final push to stay in power for turkey's president before the polls open in just a few hours. and the u.s. says it's working to reunite families separated by immigration authorities but along the border there still confusion and uncertainty. the united states has reportedly told syrian rebels not to expect military support in southern syria and jordan and the israeli occupied golan heights deescalation zone was established there last year including parts of the provinces of the trip syria and russia been carrying out an strikes on the rebel territory according to reuters the us government sent a message to the heads of the free syrian army groups who has supported in the past thousands of civilians have fled their homes in that province where a major government offensive is underway rebels say

on the very next day five out of armies from jordan egypt lebanon syria and iraq immediately declared. one young palestinian activist who was living in cairo at the time was keen to join the fight. and i thought. that i knew. that there was where stan managed not to lobby for the sliney in the should bury him as they mean i left school we gathered the young muslims association and we decided that whoever wanted to fight would have to bend their books. i was among those who burned their books and went and joined the army of ali struggle. that. the arab armies were defeated. the newly declared state of israel seized control of most of palestine with the exception of jerusalem the west bank and the gaza strip. by nine hundred forty nine close to three quarters of a million palestinians had become refugees. in the late one nine hundred fifty s. in kuwait and made the popular sentiment of arab unity common in the region a group of palestinian exiles established a secret organization. they called it the palestinian national liberation movement it became known more popularly as fact that. ya

reported that more than one hundred sixty thousand syrians have fled to jordan is borderline with syria jordan's government said it cannot open the borders as it's already home to one point five million syrian refugees and due to political economic and security issues jordan is in no position to accommodate more negotiations also kicked off in the regime held areas south of syria between representatives of the free syrian army and russian forces we have learnt that the rebels would propose to give up crossing on jordan's border while the syrian regime laid a precondition that the f.s.a. must lay down arms withdraw from the south then integrate into the police force these demands were turned down when you can see on this map how much territory rebels had twelve days ago that territory in green is shrinking by the day a syrian government forces continue to push south more now from our colleagues over at a.j. plus. really worried about the situation we expect that the number of displaced people could more than double the violence escalates. for more in-depth analysis of the situation in so

syria had accepted the u.n. cease fire. with no advance warning given to troops fighting on the coast not the brute cost fatally undermined syrian army resistance. the man blamed for the army's collapse was the minister of defense. a man who would eventually rise to power in syria. as an aside. the israelis pushed on and occupied the whole of the golan heights. let me. votes for the. they had this yes and with you on that if you that it could . not but it is not but. it's a lot of them. at the end of the sixth day of fighting and only one attempt achieved all its goals israel accepted the u.n. cease fire. the guns fell silent. the arabs had suffered a humiliating defeat. me a yet dowen. had been a trial you have if he hasn't. been many dead there the how morally people. look at it. and say to me ali. but. when i heard. of it arrest me. when i didn't see. all day long. here. he would be. under heavy popular pressure nasser rescinded his decision to step down from the presidency. and attempts to regain the lost arab territori

the moment we've still got that area of cloud in the far eastern part of our map a more cloud from syria drifting its way across the caspian sea as well so plenty of clouds and not a great deal of rain for us as we head through wednesday just a few bits and pieces but it's pulling itself together and on thursday that's the way today looks like that rain will be stretching its way eastward so georgia seeing more heavy rain there and it's gradually pushing its way towards the caspian sea once more we still have those showers in the far eastern part of iraq as well they've been plaguing us for a good few days now but further south largely fine enjoy hot now baghdad right help forty five degrees i mean for the towards the south and it's also pretty hot for many of us here doha will get to around forty two on wednesday thursday will be the hotter day will get up to at least forty four forty five degrees it really will feel very hot for many of us on thursday towards the south of rome and more in the way of cloud air as they have been over the past day or say and that could just give us a litt

as fighting continues in syria's southern province rebels say the u.s. has told them you're on your own. zimbabwe's president survives an apparent grenade attack on the campaign trail. and two years after the break tens of thousands marched through london to demand another referendum. in turkey polls have just opened for sunday's landmark elections these are live pictures from a polling place in istanbul more than fifty six million turkish citizens are eligible to vote six candidates are seeking the presidency including the incumbent to win a second round of voting will take place next month if no candidate wins more than half of the votes in today's first round after the election sweeping constitutional changes will come into force vastly expanding the powers of the president those who approved in a referendum last year let's speak now to bernard smith who is in the turkish capital ankara so bernard polls have just opened how close is this race expected to be. well i'm in central anchor of the turkish capital has i'm this polling station had just opened

that's why iran withdrew from solving syria the iranians nor that engaging in a war with israel in syria is not its benefits. and it's not to russia's benefit either an iranian israeli confrontation with threaten the assad government's hold on power and moscow's achievements it has been a difficult balancing act for russia which enjoys good relations with iran and israel israel doesn't just want iranian and iranian backed troops away from its borders it wants them out of syria altogether israel sees them as a strategic threat and wants russia to ensure that their military influence doesn't grow it's not just israel's demand other regional international powers want to limit iran's influence moscow to wants a strong syrian government to help broker an internationally backed political settlement not interested in. is increasing influence in syria. so basically russia is interested more in stronger. russia and iran have long had different goals and agendas in syria their alliance save that the syrian government but now that the war is winding down many actors will be jockeying for position a

in the worst possible conditions we penetrated deep into syria to damascus and blew up their air force headquarters and the general staff most of them and full of fear. these were the first of a string of attacks targeting syrian infrastructure. and at that stage syrian population got up on the roof to watch the bombs fall and most of all the exciting. truth had been sunk in the country was mortal danger. alongside the heavy aerial strikes israel would launch its ground offensive. to ahmed divisions would attack across the nine hundred sixty seven cease fire line known as the popular line along the damascus road towards the syrian capital sixty kilometers to the east. at first light on the eleventh of october the assault began. despite fierce syrian resistance the israelis advanced capturing territories deep inside the syrian mainland. but. in the. the retreat began when the israelis launched a massive counter attack the first division started to retreat before the israeli army. when it did it had almost two hundred fifty tanks and the infantry brigades behind it they started to retrea

egypt and syria launch an all out war against israel. the targets liberating the sinai peninsula and the golan heights territories occupied by israel six years earlier in the six day war. israel is completely unprepared its regular army outnumbered its reservists not yet present on either front. so the question of how to who is where which scored purchased because our troops just six years before the six day war permitted so to get into this situation there's us. yes or that's their war with us because of the split venture of. israel could have or are you. that lightning victory brought with it an illusion of invulnerability. israel seemed secure behind a protective military cuts and. and despite intelligence warnings during september nine hundred seventy three of an upcoming arab attack the head of amman israel's military intelligence general. was convinced there was nothing to worry about. saddam's close relationship with the soviets guaranteed a supply of military hardware. at the israelis knew he had been able to obtain the latest ge

fully back to bold so ahead rebels in southern syria say the u.s. has told them they're on their own as the army and its allies close in plus. zimbabwe's president because it wasn't his time after surviving an apparent grenade attack on the campaign trail and from a lack of hospitals to fake untie venom we'll look at the factors behind a worsening health problem in nigeria. voting is underway in turkey's high stakes he lections that will complete the country's transition to a new executive presidential system presenter shuteye bedouins main rival omaha m n j has cast his ballot in his home city of he's wood voters with an unexpectedly gauging campaign earlier on for his on is seeking reelection for a new five year term with vastly increased powers under the new system and his ruling ak party is hoping to retain its majority in parliament another virtue on challenges a sole female candidate has voted in the last hour action air from the nationalist eve party previously served as turkey's first female interior minister action as promised to reestablis

the last time we traveled we were escaping the bombs in syria. but. after all they cared about was my high school certificate it was my only chance to get to university where you could get away with the best of it. it was hard not to think about our lives back in syria in the last moments. as you look. at the career and the regular at the get them of their. mind if that mine are. i miss the simple things most in the house that my father built and you don't have actual work anywhere surely because that is on the shift. so you don't believe. instead of the basic eat. some of the and that has occurred that i mean look fast and i'll most likely yeah. this is the jet is that got him. well a lot. of jargon and and so. look under any you can experiment harm a born again and i would encourage more comfort but it can't be this can be did us and come and tell it as it will but doing the worst of us our machine he'd been a kid bill halley and it failed my collection i really was afraid of going fishy lucan. bush and i. were so happy. and obama. knows a lot of th