brent: i'm joined by kristin helberg, she isis one of the few western journalists with extensive contacts in the country. it's good to see you again, although it seems like every time we meet here it is the same story, the new fighting in idlib. >> we have some personal stories coming from them. they're trying to keep some civil resistance there in the past few years. there is a media activist talking about how they had to leave their parents because they preferred to die there. they left the house, let their parents behind. we have this little two year old girl who is the only survivor of an attack that killed the rest of her family. some activists from the women's center there. we have personal stories and regular accounts of medical relief organizations who have on a daily basis accounts of attacks on their own hospitals. with the help of western, german, american money, now are seeing this being targeted by the bombs of russia. brent: you mentioned the refugees. there are more than 150,000 people who are fleeing their homes right now. where are they going? >> the majority of them come

and kristin helberg is a featured mideast analyst a number of european publications she points out. hi yes is militarily defeated but not ideologically the west must help the kurds in dealing with the jocks. a warm welcome to all of you and to those of you joining us from around the world kristin if we could -- let's start with you you've also written two books about this topic about hi yes about syria. you spend a lot of time in the country let's get a a demographic of our average i. s. fighter jihadists who is he and what drew him. to fight in syria to fight in iraq well it's not that easy because behind the one thousand fifty german i as fighters that i'll one thousand personal stories. they are quite young the majority of them they have radicalized very quickly usually over the internet. so some of them are converts german citizens convert some of them are migration of they have a migration background in germany but i think what generalizes them would be that they feel a limit at elated from german society that felt that this is not the country this would be. from women for exam

kristin helberg, as always, it is good to have you on the show. thank you. the german foreign minister has been in turkey and -- after the meeting he said germany is working with turkey to prevent that humanitarian catastrophe in idlib. he was in ankara to improve relations between the countries. also on the agenda was the release ofof seven gererman cits whwho were detained in turkey on political charges s after the failed coup in the country two years ago. let's go now to dw's julia hahn following the story for us in istanbul. good evening to you, julia. eclipsing these bilateral talks is this countdown to this major offensive in idlib, home to three million people. i mean, the two men, what have they said about this impending military campaign? julia: when it comes t to the current situation in syriaia in ididlib, the twowo ministers are basically on the same page. they agree that a major offensive on idlib has t to be prevented, as you alalready mentioned,d, becauause it couldd to what they call a humanitarian catastrophphe. millions of civilian lives ar

melinda: kristen helberg, would you agree? are we seeing a rise in intolerance? kristin: i think what has really changed is the climate in discussion,ublic private discussion. a lot of things are being said that would have been impossible 10 years ago. and this does not go only for anti-jewish resentment but it goes for anything that is considered different, that is considered alien to germany somehow. we have a growing sentiment that everything should be as it is and germans are one nation and they look like this and whoever comes here has to act like this. assimilation. a goes not only against jews but especially against muslims right now. if you read texts and replace "jewish""muslim" with it is very frightening. stigmatization against minorities. this is a big problem inside germany. melinda: i want to talk about what affects the change in climate has. we have a short film. in recent years, berlin has seen a rebirth of jewish life but could this increasingly be perceived as a less than welcoming place? we can listen now to the voices children.michalski's [ vi

also with us is kristin helberg, a widely published commentator on syria. she is convinced the path to peace goes through moscow. we are joined by dw's own maissun melhem. she was born in syria, and she says it is not aleppo that is the real cause for shame but the suffering of the syrian people and the fact the international community has been in denial for so long. i would like to begin with you. you were born in syria. we have tended, in recent times, to act as though the conflict could not get any worse. it seems there is a definite escalation. what are your thoughts and what are your feelings? maissun: you start your day with a cup of coffee and a feeling of satisfaction that your child is sleeping in his bedroom, and you start reading the news. the first thing you see, like what i saw today, a bunch of children swimming in a crater, explosion crater, resulting from the bombings of yesterday, filled with the water of the broken water supply, which civilians in aleppo do not have any more. then you see the syrian ambassador at the u.n. laughing when a j