the americans but what about the rest of syria the conflicts in the rest of syria exactly i mean the question of that with all of the absence of the or the presence of the u.s. forces in syria is not only about isis it's not only about iran although i mean these two key factors are very important for for u.s. policy and u.s. thought that here in the region but it's also about finding a political solution to the conflict in syria. not a son a former secretary of state he put to what's most people actually believe as the most comprehensive clear us syria policy. last year in january last year during his famous speech before the hoover institution in stanford university when he when he actually identified the key objectives of u.s. policy actually in syria and why they wanted says should actually stay in syria with its military presence number one is but a venting. from coming back number two is but i've been to iran and i'm having a land door from iraq through syria to lebanon. continuing iranian influence in the region and number three. he's using the u.s. military presence in syria a

government of syria and syria have been facing and they do believe if. they stop me. and russia which are available in syria leave and he should remain there to. maintain these military against a terrorist group if he is there on syria the united states and. its allies will continue the search for supporting of tory school once again. the demo schools and the champions of. syria will be in danger and dangerous situation and once again face is the. development of new development of the. issue still we are there. to z. syria because the main. responsibility of the defend the country. of the. syria. yet is here just. what i doubt the iranian policy is has no relation to the american policy do not correspond but i'm sure you know very well that russia tried to your cards made its policy with all the actors on the ground with a specific reason of achieving a point when all foreign troops i assume including russian troops could be withdrawn from that country and syria would be able to provide its security on its own is that concurrent with how iran sees the out cement go in

for example you have on the jordanian border with syria but inside syria internal territories we're talking about internally displaced refugees you have the rock band camp so this camp if we're to speak frankly is basically besieged from two parties the jordanian government and the syrian government that have equally closed their borders prevented medical supplies and food supplies from going in. which has resulted in horrific things happening this meant for loan i think the number is eight children have died in this camp a lot. not forgetting obviously the freezing conditions right now. in particular story there was a there was a man who one of these eight children her father was basically went to the syrian side to try and get his bill to somewhere to get treated and he had to pay a bribe that's the only way that he could get into syrian territory because that's the way it works and i saw territory and he doesn't have that money he went to the jordanian side and they rejected him there and said they weren't letting any refugees in the case wasn't serious. twenty four hours later and i thi

the americans but what about the rest of syria the conflicts in the rest of syria exactly i mean the question of that with all of the absence of the or the presence of the u.s. forces in syria is not only about isis it's not only about iran although i mean these two key factors are very important for for u.s. policy and u.s. thought that he and the region but it's also about finding a political solution to the conflict in syria and a son the former secretary of state he put to what most people actually believe as the most comprehensive clear us syria policy. last year in january last year during his famous speech before the hoover institution in stanford university when he when he actually identified the key objectives of u.s. policy actually in syria and why the united states should actually stay in syria with its military presence number one is but a venting. from coming back number two is but eventing iran from having a land door from iraq through syria to lebanon i eat continuing iranian influence in the region and number three. he's using the u.s. military presence in syria as a

today update on the war in syria it's a show that you our community voted for so join us with your syria related comments and questions live on you tube or on twitter. my name is the marker for the boy on the beach and you are. a big thanks to everyone who voted in last week's twitter poll to help us choose today's topic you can follow us at the lookout for future polls so today we're looking at some of the latest headlines from the war in syria and a pullout of u.s. troops rebuilding diplomatic relations with bashar al assad and how displaced syrians are coping with harsh winter conditions with us to talk about all of this in istanbul turkey me an architect and activist also in istanbul dillema missa vice president of the national coalition or syrian revolution and opposition forces. a journalist and activist really good to have you with us everybody or we begin with the u.s. troop withdrawal last month president donald trump made a surprise announcement that u.s. troops will begin leaving from syria have a listen to what turkey's president said during a meeting with russian president v

not to mention that hezbollah is in syria. there is a wing of hezbollah that's inside of syria. so imagine now if you're israel. you already face the threat of hezbollah. hezbollah has already developed rockets they're making. they are now building these rockets. they are developing these rockets in lebanese territory. and they're not the rockets from the last time they had a war with israel. these are precision-guided. they can aim hit to him certain areas and avoid hitting others. and they have a lot more than they used to have. by volume, they could overwhelm israeli forces potentially. you already have that problem in lebanon. imagine that exact same problem not just from lebanon but to the north of you coming from syria just across the golan heights. so you're israel. you have your mortal enemy, iran, your mortal enemy had a assad, and your mortal enemy from the groups north of you in that country. so israel is taking action. they are increasingly and openly acknowledging as they launch these attacks into syria to try to put thumb selves into that position. they cannot allo

now kuwait verse to syria. the last warm up game before the asian cup time for the pre-match press conference within the gulf region coup why just regard it as liberal it's a monarchy we're only one family rules but journalists who criticize the king can go to prison for up to five years. for me it feels like a different planet but for my fellow countrymen totally relaxed down the deliverance phrases we hear from football coaches all over the world we have no reason to under you in the world here but you going to speak to tom ridge. as a fellow journalist and experienced sports reporter for whites public sports channel . was there a discussion within quiet that the syrian team comes to quite yet because the. government or. the good with. the years is like a lot of what. other countries they wouldn't invite the syrian national team because of of the politics of the of the obvious no no no sidewards smallgoods is. a long way from home but. so i wonder of politics is always be. the how not. the left side the right

withdraw out of syria. i think the debate has been abysmally superficial and anytime you get a bipartisan consensus on anything in this town, you have to question it. i'm afraid that many decisions and views on the raw were because people just alike trump. i'm an analyst and it is not my opine, it is my decision to lay out the analytics on this. as i have laidns -- that there remains legitimate reasons and perhaps overwhelmingly positive reasons for the united states to -- out of the area syria rather than stay in. let's talk about the legitimate reasons that may have been in the consideration or the with drawl. defeated. not be it is certainly degraded. their ability to operate his military forces no longer is based or threat. nobody doubts that. but they are not next scheduled threat divides dates. it's 25 different countries and we are in two of them. using this argument stay in syria to complete the destruction of isis carries over to if they are not completely defeated we need to stay in the question i

troops from syria. i think the relationship between putin and air to one has grown substantially over the last couple years just this past year they've had seven one on one meetings and this is in two thousand and eighteen eighteen phone calls they had one recently so the cooperation between turkey and russia and syria has grown substantially so this conversation these conversations have been taking place regardless of what's taken place in the united states by president but of course the u.s. pull out of syria's prompted i think a push to try to address some of the challenges and concerns that turkey sees and also it's an opportunity for russia to solidify what it sees as the right position in syria what do you make of this talk about a buffer zone in northern syria between turkey and the kurds does that say that turkey is not willing to intervene militarily against the kurds in other words it's not willing to go against the wishes of washington. i think that's to be determined of course turkey has leg

and of people of syria is a poor the whole integrity oh the syria. the. fighting you are helping the syrian go and if you close syria for fourteen games terrorist groups. with the help of russia and some other countries fortunately we have overcome me even cosies the. government of syria and syria have been facing the do believe if. they stumble. and russia which are available in syria leave early should remain there. to. maintain these three against a terrorist group if you interrupt syria the united states. its allies will continue their search for supporting of tourists who once again. the dumbest of the champions of. syria will be in danger and dangerous situation and once again even face the. development of new development though the. issue still. to the syria because the main. responsibility of the defend the country. of the. syria. has just. pointed out the iranian policy is has no relation to the american policy do not correlate but i'm sure you know very well that russia does try to your cards made its policy with all the actors on the ground wit

syria. i am focused to do my job as a football coach this is my mission and this is my job what other people put in our sport in football if i read all this nonsense that superstars should not shake hands with putin that should not be a world cup in qatar and all this. things to put politics in our sport is not very helpful football is similar to ping pong it's just a bit of fun and my game with more money is free of politics the rookie in the team plays football in the netherlands a very open society now he plays for a country cut off from the world why. syria. so what now can i play for the national team of all and then i will play for the national team of syria to show the people and to give them back also because my parents also from syria and i want to give something back to the people of course i don't speak arabic as good as the other ones so. it's really difficult and but the only thing i know is when everyone is together here no one speaks about politics because everyone is so focus

withdrawal from syria stimulus. hello and welcome to cross talk where all things considered i'm peter lavelle president donald trump has repeatedly said the u.s. will withdraw from syria it would seem he's the only one in his administration backing this move is trump in charge of his own foreign policy are john bolton and mike palm pale actually running the show. cross talking to syria policy i'm joined by my guest. in london he is a lawyer and an independent political analyst as well as an expert in iraqi affairs in damascus we have amar why cough he is founder and director of know so it's an organization expressing stakeholder opinion in syria and in the middle east and in norman we cross to joshua landis he is the director of the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma are right gentlemen crosstalk rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate joshua let me go to you first in norman i have a very simple question but i don't think there's a simple answer is

is trying to diffuse a growing dispute with turkey over the future of kurdish fighters in northern syria the president has spoken to turkish leader. on the phone and it follows a tweet from trump on sunday night warning he devastate turkey's economy if its forces attacked the kurds the saudi teenager who fled her family and was granted asylum in canada says she hopes to inspire a change in her first t.v. interview conan says she wants to use her freedom to campaign for others those are the headlines next stop inside story. confronting iran is donald trump's foreign policy obsession he sent his secretary of state to the middle east to drum up support but what action is the united states prepared to take and what will be regional implications but this is inside story. and i welcome to the program i'm nick clegg reassuring allies and talking tough on enemies u.s. sector state might pump a has been touring the middle east to try and win support and put pressure on iran he's pushing for an arab military alliance to counter threats from tehran the aim would be to curb iran's influence in the r

abo mink in syria of fighting in syria basing themselves in syria and gave and giving themselves the right to basically decide what sort of a constitution is going to be for syria moving forward what happens to the northern part of syria moving forward and so on so forth so but shuttle as it is basically a hostage to the russian patrons within the country at least for the foreseeable future final question my one another one from our viewers on facebook where there is asking how much is the syria situation being complicated or least the situation we're talking about today russia and turkey how much is it being complicated by the declared withdrawal of u.s. forces. well in a so far as the russian and the turkish president it has been simplified not complicated because they thought the united states with one foot in one foot out and basically under the thumb administration had no strategy for syria and complicated things for syria and to a large degree it's true meaning the trump administration have tried here and there to put some pressure and they tried to fight that first and foremos

what happens in syria doesn't stay in syria. i think we have seen it is terrorism, refugees, and a terrible humanitarian situation that the spillover has man affected in to europe in ways that i think are very hard to forecast going back to 2011, 2012, timeframe. when we saw the grass root roots revolution in syria uprising. i think the other thing to keep in mind is that our competitors can very easily fill the gaps into which we are departing. they have been actively exploiting our vulnerabilities in the region for the last years, whether that's russia in 2015 and turning itself into syria, iran, certainly over the last decade increasing destabilizing activity in the region and now through its activities and capabilities in syria itself, announcing an expeditionary ability that can be leveraged in multiple ways of whether it's in yemen, and other places in the region and yet forces working in close proximity to these competitors has afforded these competitors an opportunity to learn from our operation and put stress on the us

syria currently has. boot and s. three hundred as far as we know from what the russians have said it was only the panacea and boot systems that they used to defend syrian positions against the cruise missile attacks and guided bomb attacks etc from israel over. overnight and in the attack that took place at the end of the week and there is as you say diplomacy going on as well we have the gear peterson who is the new u.n. envoy to syria arriving in moscow sitting down and having a meeting with sergey lavrov the russian foreign minister this is pedersen's first .

soon on kosovo el to syria north and syria their secretary of state has arrived in riyadh on the latest leg of his middle east tour by pompei will be holding talks with saudi crown prince mohammed bin salma payless qatar on sunday after calling on countries in the gulf to end their dispute saying it's gone on for far too long. has more. mike bomb paling qatar where the message to the gulf countries and their dispute the west political crisis in decades for the gulf cooperation council president and i both believe the ongoing dispute in the region has dragged on too long and the dispute benefits adversaries and harms our mutual interests the emir of qatar shaped i mean been hammered out fanny greeted on peo after discussions with qatar's foreign minister said mohammed bin al the fannie both countries say they are keen to consolidate trade and military cooperation that includes expanding the largest u.s. military base in the middle east dade near the capital doha is home to the forward operating base of u.s. central command. and then we have discussed all the issues of interest for our co

out of all its military entanglements a broad a specifically syria he mentioned syria a lot in two thousand and three in many tweets so he ran on these things and if he doesn't fulfill these election promises he's going to be in big trouble in two thousand and twenty but what he's running up against peter is the permanent state the deep state call it what you will whether it's the generals whether it's lindsey graham john bolton mike pop a or whether it's the mainstream media who is also urging trump making you know putting all their all their might and all their muscle into trying to convince the american public that trump is making a bad decision by leaving syria and all of a sudden peter the narrative now is the kurds no one was talking about the kurds for so many years but all of a sudden everyone is an expert on the kurds of what's going to happen to the kurds should trump get out of syria so that's the narrative now ok game a but i mean if you were to go to zero zero two and i would say real median sorenson's. the kurds are already talking to the government in damascus not only what's

patrol in northern syria no u.s. troops were among the casualties the incident comes just weeks after the u.s. president announced a pullout of troops from syria. a taliban attack has killed dozens of intelligence and security personnel in afghanistan a truck packed with explosives was driven into a training center run by the afghan intelligence agency it came hours before the taliban announced they had resumed negotiations with u.s. officials and kept a. british prime minister to resign may has presented her alternative breaks that plan to parliament just a week after her first deal was overwhelmingly rejected it is includes more discussions on how to deal with the irish border and the scrapping of registration fees for e.u. citizens in the u.k. . zimbabwe's president emma synagogue has cut short a foreign trip to address the country's economic crisis he's been gone for a week seeking investment from russia and kazakhstan activists say twelve people have been killed in protests during that time. and then more politi

the same is true for syria. and the syrians don't overcome the jihadists at home they will enter iraq and then our country. and spread throughout the region. we are there all. that is why the security of the muslim world and that of iran depends on the security of syria. when. so to defend its borders iran openly sent soldiers from its could force an elite unit of the republican guard to both syria and iraq. you know i think it runs influence and commitment in iraq was present well before mozilla in the summer of twenty fourteen really go all the way back to the us intervention in two thousand and three. the empowerment of the shia majority government the role that arabia militias played and ever since then the arraigning presence was both opportunistic to expand its power expand its influence in the region but also defensive because it first of all didn't want to return to power of this party in the sunni arab domination secondly it didn't want the united states to use iraq as a platform to launch either an inv

troops to to leave we've already seen equipment leaving syria in northern syria u.s. troops would follow i think he's made a choice. president trump and that is to withdraw u.s. troops and i think part of the concern in washington and this is been a challenge with this administration president trump is that he does not value allies and he's incredibly transactional and for the kurds i would be worried and i don't think that the u.s. is a reliable partner right now with president trump in position to determine what the policy is but we saw it just last week an attack on u.s. military personnel with isis claims it's obviously a disconcerting situation i think the worst case scenario for the united states is that isis reemergence and that you continue to have a destabilize region. jonathan accounts with the german marshall fund of the united states and we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you thank you thor germany's chancellor angela merkel has told the world economic forum that global institutions need to be reformed to avoid what she calls the fragm

now our during the course of the war in syria kurdish forces spearheaded the fight against so-called islamic state with support from the united states kurdish forces most importantly the why p.j. also managed to gain control over a large area bordering turkey but unquote regards them as a terror organization because of their ties to turkey's outlawed crist on the workers party also known as the p.k. k. . while the diffuser yulia han is on the story for you she is in istanbul and yulia the turkish president scolding and snubbing even a senior trump aide how high are tensions right now. well this was definitely no good day for tookie u.s. relations apparently bolton and his team had expected to meet president adlon himself but that meeting never happened a spokesperson of president add on they to try to downplay this saying such an appointment was never confirmed by the turkish side and anyways bolton already met with high ranking turkish officials in ankara today and that needs to be sufficient but many others say that a president out on was in fact so frustrated by bolton's condition

and syria are way off track on that issue. is provided up to fifty thousand troops boots on the ground to to take the fight directly to isis they fought valiantly and quite successfully as a result many many american lives were saved and the alternative to the wipe e.g. from washington's perspective is someone else has to come in who is going to come in washington is not confident that the f.s.a. existence official numbers to replace the y.p. g. so it's a really difficult dilemma. ok let's go over to jordan's compered lamond stephanie decker is there and big diplomatic push going on by the united states not least. begun his tour of the middle east in amman what's his plan there in the go to. he does you've got to senior administration officials touring the middle east with different stops and i think it gives a sense that they really do feel that there is some damage control perhaps to be done certainly when it comes to assuring their allies that the americans remain a strong ally in this region here he'll be speaking with the

soon on kosovo el to syria north and syria but more ahead in the news hour including compensation claims against pedophile priests we ask if there are in the catholic church in the u.s. could go bankrupt also macedonia agreeing to change its name has led to a political crisis for the greek prime minister. and in sports the big crash the cost chaos of the first major race of the new cycling season. the leader of minnesota's opposition has been released after being briefly detained this is believed to be the moment one window was taken by officers on a busy highway on so.

cross talking to syria policy i'm joined by my guest. in london he is a lawyer and an independent political analyst as well as an expert in iraqi affairs in damascus we have amar why cough he is founder and director of an organization expressing stakeholder opinion in syria and in the middle east and in norman we cross to joshua landis he is the director of the center. middle east eddies at the university of oklahoma are right gentlemen. rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate joshua let me go to you first in norman i have a very simple question but i don't think there's a simple answer is foreign policy is befuddling. frustrating to understand and it seems quite fluid so what do you make of his policy as his major foreign policy advisers including the us secretary of state is essentially contradicting their boss on their middle east tour go ahead joshua. well you're absolutely right and for americans it's just as confusing as it is for the rest of the world because the foreign policy. elite re

out so-called islamic state i a says lost almost all its territory in syria syria is marked in red and that's led to president trump to say he would draw the two thousand american troops supporting the kurds and do one regards the kurdish militia as terrorists and he sees their presence along turkey's border as a threat to national security in a telephone conversation with president trump he proposed a turkish controlled safe zone along the border and that's the area which you see she added on the map turkey is also seeking control of mom beach a city the kurds captured from the ice in two thousand and sixteen and that is visible clear that in this gray area now with the u.s. poised to would draw the cause of trying to avoid a full on turkish military a sort and they've been to russia for diplomatic had the goods of long dreamt of establishing an autonomy region in northern syria one day but city cheekily the position of the kurds goodish forces has become very precarious in the wake of washington's planned withdrawal. this was the scene in northeast syria two days ago when a convoy of

in northern syria. today. what we were. when we were. even percent of americans or something and really experience hardship. for.

crop administration because syria syria most of the trumpery mystery and doesn't want to get involved in any new wars and i think what the syrians were trying to say to the americans was you know trying to control the israelis and otherwise we're going to ignite the war and you trumpet ministration don't want to be dragged into a war if you don't want this then hence put a stop to what the israelis are doing. now russia has lifted a veil of secrecy around one of its ballistic missiles in a bid to salvage a key nuclear treaty washington alleges that the weapons violate the terms of the cream and moscow refutes the claim and invited foreign journalists as well as military experts to see for themselves hugo she's done off as more. there are stage lights a red tape and even a red carpet it almost feels like the unveiling of a new iphone except it isn't this is the missile the u.s. says it has knocked out the global nuclear out of kilter it is the reason why washington wants to rip up the existing treaties one of the few barriers holding back an arms race two point zero russia's been fligh

troops from syria. we'll hear from the former assistant secretary of state for political military affairs in the george w. bush administration and a group of academics. this was hosted by the foundation for political economic and social research. it's about an hour and twenty five minutes. >> thank you for joining us this morning on this discussion on the u.s. withdrawal from syria. as you all know, on december 19th, 2018, president trump announced the withdrawal of u.s. troops from syria. and ever since, there's been a big debate about how to pull out of syria, when, and who would replace u.s. functions on the ground and what will happen to the forces on the ground that allied with the u.s. to fight isis and what would be the regional implications. so there has been a lot of debate, and we are hoping that we won't cover all of it, because that will take probably many hours. we are trying to focus only on the withdrawal decision, and what it could mean on the ground and the relationship with turkey. how

chunk of syria. how to sustain the gain there, you do it by stabilizing these areas, maybe not nissly by american taxpayers, because there are other countries who are willing to contribute. turkey would be one, but has to be done by -- in a way that addresses their political grievances. that goes back to also the original plan by the obama administration to somehow ignore turkish priorities, not read history, and somehow just decide, oh, we're going to go there, use these bunch of fighters who seem to be great warriors and fight ice and i say get offensive there. that's not how it works. >> thank you, hassan. andrew, my last question to the panel, and then we'll turn to the question from the audience. do you see going forward, jeffrey, ambassador jim jeffrey's syria mission as more ike hassan is suggesting, it focused on politics while managing the withdrawal, and how that could play out. >> well, of course now he's dual-hatted. he is the isis czar, as we say, and also special envoy for syrian engage

syria. i am focused to do my job as a football coach this is my mission and this is my job what other people put in our sport in football if i read all this nonsense that superstars should not shake hands this should not be a world cup in qatar and all this. things to put politics in our sport is not very helpful football is similar to camp it's just a bit of fun and my game with more us money is free of politics the rookie in the team plays football in the netherlands a very open society now he plays for a country cut off from the world wife. syria. so when i come up play for the national team of all and then i will play for the national team of syria to show the people and to give them back also because my parents also from syria and i want to give something back to the people of course i don't speak arabic as good as the other ones so. it's really difficult and but the only thing i know is when everyone is together here no one speaks about politics because everyone is so focused on their

moving deploying against the kurds inside syria. well turkish officials keep emphasizing that they're ready to launch a new military offensive there in recent weeks the turkish military has reinforced troops and equipment some say this is also present out on trying to appeal to nationalist voters ahead of the local elections coming up here in turkey in march but in the end i think it strongly depends on what the u.s. is doing next let's remember when president trump announced the withdrawal in december quite surprisingly he said it would be swift now a few weeks later you know we know that this pullout will probably take much longer so they won't just leave this base this territory to the turks and i think president outer has to take this into consideration and he will not you know just act without having any kind of agreement with both washington and moscow. now for a look at some of the other stories making the news hundreds of people have taken the streets of the brazilian cities sao paulo to protest a price increase in public tr

ankara has welcomed the move but kurds inside syria fear turkey is planning to attack them. and a state of emergency has been declared in parts of southern germany and austria after snowfall hit unprecedented levels a number of people are dead authorities are warning the situation could be about to get much worse. i'm brian thomas thanks so much for being with us german police have arrested a suspect in a hacking case that's all stolen data from some one thousand politicians and celebrities including on the macro being posted on the internet this personal information has been made available for millions of users the data was released on twitter in the run up to christmas personal phone numbers home and e-mail addresses were made public and in some cases private messages and photos as well authorities learned about the data theft late last week. our. chief political editor michelle has been following developments for us michelle what more can you tell us at this point about the latest well here's what we do know we know that to twenty year old man who's in custody is actually

replace american troops in syria once they withdraw we must prevent syria from being taken over by business after the americans leave we need to. rid syria of isis in the front and the why and why. we know the forces that seek to undermine turkey's relationship with russia. and it will be working in coordination. implementing and carrying out the decisions we have arrived at in this regard in the near future. a constitutional commission should be set up in syria we would like to accelerate that process. and. with. assistance from our partners we are confident that this will be done as soon as possible. and we also discussed the issue of syrian refugees with a russian called this issue affects us directly because turkey is hosting three and a half million syrians already. in the area of the. and the olive branch over three thousand syrians have already. gone back to their homes they have returned to their. locations and they are enjoying peaceful life free of terrorist activity and we should spread this positive experience on to other regions in syria on to the eastern bank of the year freit

this was the scene in northeast syria two days ago when a convoy of u.s. and kurdish led troops was bombed in an attack claimed by islamic state. and exactly one week ago in kurdish held mandates near the turkish border. to another apparent i asked attack that killed four americans. despite the ongoing fighting washington remains committed to withdrawing its troops meaning syria's kurds are about to lose a powerful ally then there's the issue of a safe zone along the border with turkey a u.s. proposal. but who should create it and who should police it for russia which backs syria's government forces the answer is clear. we are convinced that the best and only solution is the transfer of these territories to the control of the syrian government of syrian security forces on the ministers of functions. but turkey equally wants control of this buffer zone to protect against what it sees as the kurdish threat. good liberal you take the view is our proposal for a safe so comes with the goal of keeping terrorists and terror organizations away from our borders. on

he wins and he gets all of syria back. >> well, that's the consequence of our leaving syria. announcing to the world we are leaving syria. i did a lot of negotiations with the russians on syria. i understand where they come from. those negotiations are tough. what gave us leverage at the table is the fact that we were present on the ground and influenced over a significant portion of syria. we drew lines on the map to make clear to the russians don't cross this line or you will have a bad day. that gives you leverage with the russians. we are getting to the point where with the defeat of the physical caliphate we would be able to sit down with the russians and have a serious conversation about the future of syria. announcing to the world we're just leaving, basically all of the leverage evaporates. >> not to put too fine a point on it, the main reason you stated at the beginning for the u.s. presence and the u.s. campaign and the coalition campaign was to defeat isis. the president described isis as defeated, that's a quote, absolutely obliterated in terms of territory. of co

the power of the syrian government in syria in order for russia also to have a stake in syria's future including as a military state they want a foothold in the middle east i'm not so what they're trying to get out of this whole situation ok well turkey has a very different view it's proposed a safe zone going thirty two kilometers into syria that it would control could sit in with russia's strategic interests in northern syria. well the safe zone is certainly something that turkey has been pushing for very strongly. and i think it's very much a turkish plan so it could be kind of something that russia would be willing to compromise on however russia also knows that the assad regime the assad government have been strongly against a turkish controlled safe zone they have come out and said that is categorically not ok with them and putin has previously proposed a sort of compromise where syrian government could truly could be in charge of that safe zone and we heard in the report as well that love rauf said this month that that is the only solution for those territories to be kind of pas

i assess lost almost all of its territory in syria and syria is marked in red on this map that led president trump to say he will be draw the two thousand american troops supporting the kurds now regards the goodish militia as terrorists and he sees their presence along turkey's border as a threat to national security in a telephone conversation with president trump he proposed a so-called turkish controlled safe zone along the border and that's the area that you see shaded on the map that turkey is also seeking control of mom bij that's a city the kurds captured from the two thousand and sixteen and you can see in gray now with the u.s. poised to withdrawal the kurds are trying to avoid a full on turkish military assault and have turned to russia for diplomatic help. the gods of long dreamt of the stab autonomy's region in northern syria one day but strategically the position of the kurdish forces has become precarious in the wake of washington's planned withdrawal. this was the scene in northeast syria two days ago when a convoy of u.s. and kurdish led troops was bombed in an attack claime

israel takes aim at iranian military targets in syria killing at least four syrian soldiers. down in jordan this is al jazeera law. also coming up the u.s. and turkey discuss the withdrawal of american troops from syria with ankara ready to take over security in the kurdish town. seeking peace voters in the southern philippines cast their ballots in a referendum aimed at ending a decades long conflict. our licensing laws in the death knell for taiwan's traditional medicine industry. for syrian soldiers have been killed in israeli airstrikes on iranian targets in syria the video posted to social media appears to show missiles intercepted near damascus russia says during those strikes early on monday syrian air defenses destroyed more than thirty cruise missiles and guided bombs on sunday israel said it intercepted a rocket fired at the golan heights from syria but a solid binge of aid is live for us now in gaziantep that's on the turkey syria border the russians there saying that syrian air defenses shot down more than thirty israeli cruise missiles what more can you tell us.