. abandoned by the u.s. and threatened by turkey the kurds turned to bashar al assad for protection and the syrian army says it's now in control of the kurdish held city of monti but is it how would that change the dynamics of the nearly eight year long war and how will ankara react this is inside story. hello and welcome to the program i'm richelle carey the northern city of one of the last remaining flashpoints in syria's war and yet another example of a complicated syrian jigsaw puzzle it was under the control of kurdish forces but syria says its army is now in the city for the first time in six years at the invitation of the kurds u.s. backed kurdish group considered a terrorist organization by turkey there's an all out offensive on monday by turkish forces and that fear has heightened after president trumps shop decision to withdraw american troops from syria turkey and russia now say they have agreed on coordinating with each other to fight with they called terrorism and syria so why is man beach so important the city lies northeast of aleppo and just thirty kilometers south of the tu

the government of besar al-assad to stop the slaughter of the syrian people and move toward a democratic government. the use of sanctions are a critical tool of us foreign policy and that is what we are talking about today, the implementation of additional sanctions. they often allow the united states to have a strong impact on a country and serve united states national security interests without having to implement military measures and put us troops in harm's way. i believe and most of us believe hr 1677 helps meet those interests. how does it work? here's how it works. first of all, it imposes for sanctions on entities conducting business with the besar al-assad regime and its military and intelligence agencies. a number of regime controlled industries including in the airline, telecommunications and energy sectors will also be targeted. it aims to encourage negotiations by allowing the president to waive sanctions if the parties are engaged in meaningful negotiations in violence against civilians, the bill also authorizes the secretary of state to support entities that are

they had been forced to cut a deal with the regime of president bashar assad after they were abundant by donald trump or nonstop the complete withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria a little over a week ago here syrian troops deployed in support of cottage forces us seen on the edge of mom beach their deployment creates a government buffer achi across north from syria which fully separates the tukey and its proxies from the kurds but they are yet to enter the city of money bitch as they claimed on friday. we haven't seen any movement of the syrian army in miami beach all we see are the military council of money huge numbers the conflicting reports from them but perhaps sure the cales thoughts likely to ensue and of the sixty to one hundred day timetable for the withdrawal of u.s. troops with the remaining fighting forces in syria come bling to replace them in moscow on high level turkish deliberation led by foreign minister children children's health talks with the russian foreign and defense minister as they discuss the situation in syria as u.s. forces flip it to withdrawal. of us ince

as took his position on assad turkey i mean. i think was misread when it comes to his position he's he's put his or his position on assad is that if assad is elected in a fair free elections and all the parts question is very inclusive and in an ideal case if he is elected of course tokyo will respect the decision of all the syrians and trick you will not ever see in that however i mean such case is very unrealistic at the moment given the fact that thousands and thousands of people were killed by the assad regime and also millions have been displaced of course at the end of the it is the syrians as a whole without exclusion of any group if they decide it is not turkey's place or anyone's place to criticize their decision ok to me we're with that look just like just want to welcome back welcome back i want to bring an end to metering in this because he talked a lot about russia i met a dmitri as in moscow so who are talking you talk touched on this a bit earlier but what role does russia play and making sure that this doesn't escalate and become more complicated as the met said you

bashar al assad in damascus since the beginning of the war nearly eight years ago state media acquired sudan's president omar al bashir expressing his hope that syria will recover its important role in the region as soon as possible syria was expelled from the arab league shortly after war broke out there in twenty eleven the assad government has been accused by the u.n. and rights groups of committing multiple war crimes and it's now. just sued on several arab countries have recently indicated they may be willing to normalize relations with the syrian government in october president assad gave his first interview to a gulf based newspaper since twenty eleven he told the kuwaiti paper that western and arab delegations had already begun work to resume diplomatic and economic ties just a week earlier bahrain's foreign ministers surprised observers by embracing his syrian counterpart down while i'm on the sidelines of a un general assembly meeting in new york and even neighboring israel has taken steps towards improving relations with the assad regime its commit troops crossing i

have the decisions by the united states to pull troops out of syria, and bashar al—assad apparently were certain with diplomatic sites reopening in damascus. what for you is the standout thing we should look for in the region in the year to come? the most important thing is how president trump decided to pull out all the american troops from syria. this is really a turning point. there are several interpretations for it. the first interpretation that president trump decided to leave, completely we said we lost about $7 trillion in the middle east and gave nothing. so we had to cut our losses short and leave. there is another interpretation saying that americans are pulling out because they could be a war against iran in the coming year. or maybe in the coming two years. so they believe that. so he needs flexibility in case that situation arises? he doesn't want troops in syria to be captive or a target for attacks on groups. i'm saying the second interpretation. israelis are pushing for that and are worried. what's the consequences for the region for the decision he has taken? now,

the western press russia never wanted just mr assad to stay in power whatever happens around his position is that syrians themselves should elect their government eve syrians want us and it's not the business of the united states it's not the business all over the european union to tell them who their new president should be so in that sense the position of mr charles shrug and the position of the russian foreign minister sergey lavrov they are identical there in fact the same and sergey lavrov at today's meeting in moscow with his turkish colleague says that we want the so-called constituents know can meet here or syrians which comprises both their position members and their representatives of the government we wanted to start working as soon as possible in geneva as for russia's role in syria look russia does not have a russian minority in syria historically syria was never a part of russian empire so we don't want to force anything on syrians what we want to avoid is that syria become said base for some kind of a islamist terrorist organization or islamist terrorist state. lik

rid of assad, but we want to see a regime that does not produce the kind of horrors we have seen. finally, we think iran has to get out of there, and when we say that we talk about ground troops. iran has had diplomatic influence in syria, and will have more now because of the relative change of power in the assad regime. but iranian troops, in particularly long-range power protection facilities, missiles, rockets, air defense systems, they are a threat right now to israel, which is why they conduct threats against them -- strikes against them.but they are potentially a threat to us and allies and partners like jordan and turkey. so that is the policy. in doing this, once again, a lot of the focus in the last week with the issue with the turks over the northeast, we have .ooked at individual areas back and forth with the regime, refugee relief convoys for the u.n. out of damascus. pressures along the borders by the regime. we have seen a variety of military engagements, including one in the last few days in the northeast. theations with the pyd in fight against isis vis-a-vis the

syria for many decades. it will have more now because of the relative change in power of the assad regime versus iran. iranian troops in particular, and long-range power projection they are a threat now to israel. which is why israel conducts strikes against them. they are potentially a threat to us. allies and partners such as jordan and turkey. that is the policy. again, a lot, once of the focus in the last week with the turks over the northeast, we have looked at individual areas. the back-and-forth with the regime and russians on refugee relief convoys from the u.n. out of damascus. pressures along the border by the regime. we have seen a variety of military engagements including one in the last few days. then the northeast. our relations with the be like the in the fight against -- in the byd with the fight against isis. threats to come in militarily as they have done twice before in the north of the country in euphrates shield. and then later at the beginning of this year. and then of course, there is the it live cease-fire agreement which is holding more or less between the

it's going to go somewhere else and it may not go to the assad regime either and in october the saudi government delivered one hundred million dollars to the u.s. for syrian reconstruction but troops tweek seem to imply more money would now be forthcoming trump has frequently complained about u.s. expenditures abroad and berated allies like the nato countries in south korea for not spending enough on defense alternately he boasts about striking deals to save the u.s. money five hundred thirty three million dollars monday's friendly tweet thanking the saudis is symptomatic of trump's enthusiastic attitude toward the kingdom he shrugged off the conclusions of his own intelligence agencies that saudi crown prince mohammed bin some money most likely ordered the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi. trump said saudi arms purchases and its strategic partnership with the us outweighed international condemnation of the killing they see saudi arabia as a strategic partner in the region and trump a certainly gone out maybe kind of on the fence to defend that strategic partners that ship and now

president is making assad great again. well, look, syria has always been a russian puppet regime and the russians have an absolute desire to keep bashar al assad if power. the issue has always been what exactly is the role of the american military in syria. i've always advocated we should not have boots on the ground unless it is for one reason and one reason only, that is to combat and completes the job against isis. the president's declaration to withdraw troops from syria in my judgment is totally premature and that's why i'm sure that my views are shared by most of the people on the ground in syria as well as in the pentagon. the fact of the matter is, is that it's funny to watch putin discuss this role against isis and terrorism. it was his cronies that launched a military offensive against u.s. troops in syria, instead of fighting terrorism, they're supporting the number one terrorist in syria and that's bashar al assad. >> let's get to your phone calls. fred is first up. good morning from st. paul, minnesota. go ahead, please. fred, are you with us? we'll go on to joe in east

that russia, assad and iran are not happy with us leaving. i disagree with that. they're ecstatic. the only reason they're not diplomats in tehran is they just don't believe in dancing. this is a big gift to them then this is a devastating decision for our allies. the president tweeted out to be some frustration. people should fight for. he's right. but when you find somebody who will fight with you, you need to reward them. you need to stick with them. i would challenge the president or anyone else to say that the kurdish forces in the air forces in the theory of democratic force have not fought well. so i have a letter going to the secretary of defense, secretary of state and the chairman of the joint chiefs, asking the question, what happened to our kurdish allies if we completely withdraw now? what happens to the 700 foreign fighters in syria and democratic forces controlled were all hardened jihadist premiere? we need answers to these questions. so the good news is there's growing bipartisan support to ask the president to reverse course and to have the conditions-based withdraw.

security officials met with syrian president bashar al assad in damascus on sunday assad authorized iraqi forces to at attack in syria without waiting for permission to. call it is extending form an essential him and. pretrial detention for a further ten days due to the latest allegations of financial misconduct made against him the order tycoon has been detained in japan since november on allegations of falsifying financial reports. bangladesh's prime minister sheikh hasina has secured a third term in office after a landslide victory in the country's general election change has seen his coalition took two hundred eighty eight of three hundred seats in parliament but the election was tarnished by violence as well as accusations of vote rigging and first suppression opposition leader kamau sign has called for new elections both the ruling party and the opposition reported attacks on their supporters and candidates over a dozen people were killed in violence on the day of the election. our correspondent michelle swell is standing by for us in the capital dhaka hi michelle so prime min

they'll have a military presence in northern syria. the iranians will be in syria. assad have been at the table and putin will be at the table t guess who won't be at the table? the united states of america. and so vladimir putin, of course he is celebrating this decision, because america basically walked away, gave up its seat at the table. we have no presence there any longer and we have just turned over this country and its future and its meaning in the region to vladimir putin and iran and assad. another reason why putin is a big winner is because you can just imagine those meetings now. when putin goes to the middle east and meets with the egyptians and the saudis and jordanians, frankly even the israelis, us know what he's going to say? i don't know why you are counting on america. i don't know why you are relying on america. they are unreliable. vladimir putin is going to say, look at me. i stood by assad, even after the whole world came after him. i stood by him. i didn't retreat. look at america. they abandoned these kurds to be slaughtered by the turks and maybe by the re

accused of war crimes has become the first arab leader to visit syrian president bashar assad in damascus since the beginning of the war nearly eight years ago say media co sudan's president omar al bashir expressing his hope that syria will recover its important role in the region as soon as possible syria was expelled from the arab league shortly after war broke out in two thousand nine hundred eleven the assad government has been accused by the u.n. and rights groups of committing multiple war crimes sudan's foreign minister said president bush's visit shows his country's commitment to resolving crises affecting the reach him. a little bailout from what i said to what the visit reflects the circumstances and crisis experienced by many arab countries and our commitment to find new approaches to arab action based on respect for the sovereignty of states no need to fear this in its affairs and is not just a don several our countries have recently indicated they may be willing to normalize relations with the syrian government in early october president assad gave his first intervi

on the ground including those in the assad regime and in russia. as a logistical matter, and to fall, e story of gouta's we looked a the overall military tactics. and then within the overall military tactics we broke down a tax into specific categories varying legality. taken together each tactic created an increasingly dire humanitarian decision until the final militant group surrounded in early april. it was matched by consolidated and very effected disinformation campaign. disinformation has consistently been used particularly by assad and his russian allies and as an extension of the conflict. in the bigger point here and the point of the report is that there's a trap with this information. to get into a back and forth or he said she said about what is true and what is not. again, the point of this report is to rise above that back and forth to say, this is not a standing -- this is not a viewpoint. this is not an opinion. these are things that we can either prove or disprove and it's a body of evident that can be used going forward. in other words, a body of work to drive accoun

bashar al-assad has read -- waged an unrelenting campaign of terror against its own civilians. including the use of chemical weapons. in 2014, the emergence of isis exasperated the crisis. imposing brutal practices including beheading and torture. nearly 11.3 million people are displaced within syria, or have fled to neighboring countries as refugees. nearly the entire population of southern florida. through it all, the united states remains committed. our assistance is reaching 5 million syrians every month, 4 million inside across all 14 governments and another 1 million refugees in neighboring countries. using backpacks, small trucks, drops from airplanes, even donkeys. usaid works with partners who will do whatever it takes to get the job done. flex ability is key to our response. food insistence -- food assistance includes wheat and rice as well as ready-to-eat rations for people on the move. our assistance includes vouchers for local markets. since the conflict started, nearly 75% of syria's medical doctors have left the country. leaving a profound healthcare gaps. usaid

uncut say they have been forced to cut a deal with ricky moore president bashar al assad after they were abundant by donald trump for miles the complete withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria a few days ago. the cards appealed to the syrian government for protection following threats of a military officer by thuggish president taught talk the city of mumbai where many kurds in the. kurdish leaders say they would rather try their luck in the decisions with the city and bridgette the risk on all out military offensive from neighboring turkey. the syrian government quickly responded response to the appeal of the people and man british general command of the army and the armed forces announces the entry of units of the syrian arab army to be and raising the flag of the syrian arab republic they armed forces guarantee the full security of all syrians and others who are present in the region. army commanders say troops arrived in mumbai john friday morning to fly the syrian flag over government buildings for the first time in six years without claims being disputed by people living in the u

returning refugees and creating jobs and all kind of things like that, and so long as assad is in his current position, i strongly suspect that not just in the u.s. congress that none other of the western parliaments would contribute to syria's reconstruction. it's not immediately obvious that there are a lot of others that would be both willing and able to do that. certainly, whenever i have raised that issue with russian interlocutors they make it clear that they are not interested in making that kind of investment in syria's reconstruction. i don't think iran can do it and i was just in china last week and asked a number of people there whether china would be interested in doing something like that, and i didn't get any indications that they were and that really leaves significant sources of outside investment and the gulf countries who are trying to oust assad who also seem unlikely to do that so it strikes me that actually we're in a pretty good position to negotiate with russia and iran and others about the shape of post-war syria and that if russia and iran and the assad govern

see regs fundamentally different. we are not trying to get rid of assad, but regime that it does not produce the kind of things we have seen. and we think iran have to get out. we are talking about iranian ground troops. they were up diplomatic efforts and they have had for many decades. they will have more because of the relative change in power. but, iranian troops, in particular, long rage capabilities, missiles, rockets, systems, they are a threat to israel, which is israel conducts strike against of them. they're potentially a threat to us and our allies and partners such as jordan and turkey. that is the policy. in doing this, once again, in light of the focus in the last over the the turks northeast, we have looked at andvidual areas back-and-forth with regime and the russians on refugee idp damascusnvoys out of and along the border by the regime. we have seen a variety of military engagement including one in the last few days in the northeast and our relations with the pyd in the fight against isis. vis-a-vis the turks and their es andns about pyd's ti there are threats to co

president bashar assad responded by a fierce war against all opposition with far reaching consequences. it represents a major challenge facing the international community and twenty sixteen. the situation in syria was exacerbated by the intervention of both russia and iran and their support for the assad government against the rebels. who are dealing with as many i mean about of the. iranian people and you have to do muslims sure you have the serial killer you. were mad at the fact the strategy man said let the far north. korea you know where i mean death for analysis and no he in your. new fools. that then buttons pushed the one of them can come to you of them or is another in the holocaust and that would a doctor lead the mill that in god an associate will be in class and me accordingly i imagine is that east would have me out by the single now and there are some one m.b. how good it is to what i'm being known as a citizen without a care in a joke when he just doing a can in what will be able to record e.g. all that he had already sauce that suja just. let out of a taxi. the u.n. stopped

rich in china. in assad, syria. many christians will happily celebrate christmas without oppression. take a guess which countries are despised. maybe that's why they love china's government. beijing does washington wishes it could do with efficiency, too. want to bring major divomght tonight in america's involvement in syria. despite heavy pressure from saudi arabia and thousands of foreign policy experts, the united states has managed to avoid a full intervention into the syrian civil war, praise god. now we are finally pulling out the forces we have got there trace gallagher has more on that. trace? >> tucker, the decision to remove the entire u.s. force from syria 2,000 troops surprised virtually everyone and it officially marked the end of an extended ground campaign against isis. moments ago the president released this video statement. watch. >> i have been president for almost two years and we have really kep stepped it up and we have won against isis. we have beaten them and we have beaten them badly. we have taken back the land and now it's time for our troops to come back h

outbreak of syria's civil war a conflict which began with protests against bashar al assad has killed some four hundred thousand people and displaced millions more assad's government is now in control of nearly two thirds of syria after a string of victories one of those was in the scene of some of the most vicious fighting and humanitarian crisis reconstruction is now underway but the city's children bear the scars of war. that they chant god syria bashar bashar al assad's government is now in charge of the city and the school this footage was obtained under the supervision of governmental authorities two years since the battle for aleppo the memories remain to fit the fallacy. called love it was raining bombs on the buildings and onto the streets you couldn't move around here you had to stay at home there were some friends around and sometimes we'd be together but once a bomb fell close by and i got hit on the arm. the twelve year old lost his father in the conflict he his family and his home were collateral damage in syria's vicious war. it's a common story among the children my re

shifted that it no longer sees unseating president bashar al assad or regime change in syria as a goal we're not asking for regime change we're not asking for the russians to leave we're asking for is a compromise settlement there's a strong. readiness on the part of western nations not to money for that disaster unless we have some kind of idea that their government is ready to compromise and that's not create yet another horror in the years ahead nevertheless the situation in syria remains volatile especially now with turkey threatening to intervene to invade northern syria out of security concerns as they see the white e.g. syrian kurds that control much of northern syria as a terrorist organization and they have threatened to act we're also seeing sporadic fighting in with the jihad ists joined by rebels there and the syrian arab clashing from time to time so there is certainly motivation to get things done. yes a lot to be discussed let's try to go through some of it no a political. stuff. is live on the program always welcome washington has said it will not invest in syria's reco

. the clerk: house resolution 1165, resolution condemning the assad regime and its backers for their continued support of war crimes and crimes against humanity in syria. the speaker pro tempore: pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from california, mr. royce, and the gentleman from new york, mr. engel, will each control 20 minutes. the chair recognizes the gentleman from california. mr. royce: i ask unanimous consent that all members have five legislative days to revise and extend their rashes and include extraneous material on this measure. the speaker pro tempore: without objection. mr. royce: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. royce: this resolution represents a broad bipartisan agreement that there will be no peace in syria as long as the assad regime remains in power. and as long as russia and iran continue their entrenchment in that country. for seven years, the world has watched the brutal dictator, bazaar al-assad, inflict untold suffering on the syrian people. since the beginning of the conflict, half a millio

fighting against isis and especially the kurds. it has opened the door for iran andin cer assad and the russians and others to hav a bloodbath against the people we have been supporting and have relied upoisus. i think s simply a case where, mr. president, i will stay until february, i will try to wk the budget, i will try to expand to our allies what we are doing, but i cannot stay any longer. jane: in the last few seconds jim mattis said these president es somebody with views better aligned to his. who might that be? mr. cohe i don't know who it would be, but whomever it is you should be prepared to have your advice if it is based on politi, but on the merits be idepared to have your advice rejected by the prt because he knows best. it is in his power to overrule the secretary of defense and anyone in his cabinet serves at the pleasure of the president. but i would like to see the congress, as soon as 2019 gets here, have congress called a public hearing and have secretary mattis come and testify,, testify in open session and told the american people what is at stake for us and put th

not regime change we're not trying to get rid of assad we just want to see a regime again that does not produce the kind of horrors that we have seen there's a strong. readiness on the part of western nations not to ante up money for that disaster unless we have some kind of idea that the government is ready to compromise on us and our create yet another horror nevertheless there is a lot of motivation to get things done because the situation in syria while nowhere near as volatile as it was even a year ago it is still remarkably tense for example turkey is threatening intervention invasion of northern syria. against the who. abuses terrorists there have been clashes in the evening as well where there are rebels as well as islamists geodes terrorists clashing with the syrian arab. as i say a lot of drive to get things done ok we may return to that story if we get a statement from geneva but for now let's move to costa rica where several hundred exiled nicaraguans have protested against their country's president daniel ortega. the protesters are demanding ortega stop the repression o

assad regime. when we begin to think about stabilization operations, one of the questions we need to wrestle have thehether we opportunity to improve the capacity of local populations to build governance institutions to put in place security and justice institutions that will strengthen the odds or improve will bepects that they less vulnerable to the kinds of security threats that originate to, fromr only institutions of governance like the military, like a justice system that clearly uses the law in an arbitrary and coercive way. to what extent can civil operations give local communities some degree of protection from those kinds of intervention on the part of an authoritarian coercive regime. in the syrian case, we have an opportunity to advance positive purposes. the argument i make in the paper is that one of the critical pathways toward achieving that goal is by lamenting stabilization operations that more fully reflect the stabilization doctrine you referenced -- by implementing stabilization operations that more fully reflect the stabilization doctrine you referenced. of of t

after, there was activity just north of the president is now, and in al-assad airbase, he has no plans at all to remove u.s. troops from the country. your thoughts? >> the israeli reportedly struck his ball at targets near damascus yesterday. it's a clear statement from the israelis that they will not tolerate syria used as a forward base against the country. this is really the first one that we have seen since the september incident where the syrian air defense directive russian military aircraft were 15 russians were killed. i do think that the president statement is important, and we are not quite done with isis geographic space in iraq and syria, so there is more work to be done there. then there is concern about ice is into an insurgency referred to the al-assad airbase and the surge which is so important, we dealt with irreconcilable al qaeda elements and drove a wedge between them and the tribal shapes. >> dana: tell me about iran's attempt to influence iraq, and are they able to try to rebuff that? >> they have mounted a significant influence campaign, frankly since our invasio

president bashar assad has sent troops to the north of the country that is ahead of him the suspected offensives by turkey turkish backed militias have been gathering close to the town of money which is currently held by the syrian democratic forces . kodesh alliance supported by the united states the this month turkish president announce that his country would attack man bitch it's unclear when the operation will start but the mood in the town this tense. terror is nothing remarkable about the streets of mandates busy with traffic and locals not doing their shopping. but the residents of this northern syrian time and no strangers to conflict for several years they suffered the brutality of the so-called islamic state until the group was as stated by kurdish and arab forces and snow local residents fear a new assault on the city just sort of the nuts people will no longer have homes their young children and it's winter now it's cold the children could fall sick and some could die everyone will be displaced because it's war and we know the free syrian army is ruthless turkish

"an american withdrawal at this time would be a big win for isis, iran, srl assad, anand russia. in addition to the fight against russia, syria remains the center of double proxy wars involving the united states, russia, iran, turkey, saudi arabia, israel, and other nations. we will have more on trump's decision and the situation in syria after headlines. the senate passed a last-minute stopgap spending bill last wednesday in an effort to avert a possible government shutdown friday. the measure would keep the government open until february and does not include funding for trump's border wall. $5 billion last week, trump declared he would be proud to shut down the government over border wall funding during a contentious public meeting with democratic leaders. the measure will now have to pass through the house before arriving at president trump's desk. it's unclear whether he will sign it. on wednesday, trump appeared to back off the border wall funding provision, tweeting -- "mexico is paying for the wall through the new usmca, the replacement for nafta! far more money coming to the