assad regime just needs to keep going. the state apparatus in syria could not go on without these things. theo work with international community on a political revolution and the 2254,cts through ussc the assad regime could not defy them. could not replace all the support that the russians give. so whatever they think they need them to -- we do have continuing contact with the russians on a diplomatic level. nick can talk about military deconfliction, that is not my lane. but on a diplomatic level, we are in constant touch with the russians on the way to get to the in state, that i think we both roughly agree with. behavior in the region has to change in order for the underlying causes of the conflict to be addressed. there, we have a lot of disagreements about, and we talk about those all of the time. one way and which we were recently able to agree was in the establishment of the constitutional committee, which will be charged with undertaking constitutional reforms to try to address some of the structural problems in sy

has iran withdrawn support of the assad regime? b if not what kind of support do they send damascus? >> thank you, congressman. iran has absolutely not withdrawn report for the ast saturdays regime. we see the iranians sending not only their own forces, you you have revolutionary guard core officers in syria. but we see them cultivating and sometimes sending over proxies. hezbollah, afghanistan forces have been there. it's entrenching itself in the social fabric in syria. which tells you they are there to stay. iran would be turning syria into forward operating base for missiles and other power projex tools if it weren't for a airstrikes. they haven't deterred iran to continue to focus on power projection base. >> i yield back. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, guys, i want to completely associate myself with the remarks. i wish you were here under circumstances that were different, but here we are. i don't think there's an administration anymore. we have a president who is acting on husband impulses. and the pol

has iran withdrawn their support of the assad regime? if not, what kind of support do they still send to damascus? >> know, iran has absolutely not withdrawn it support of the regime. sending notranians only their own forces, you do have revolutionary guard officers in syria, but we see them cultivating and sometimes as well asr proxies i have any impact if any forces as well as syrian forces that they themselves have recruited and organize and paid. but we also see iran entrenching itself in the economic and social fabric of syria, which tells you that they are there to stay. would be turning syria into an operating base for missiles and other power projection tools if it weren't for israeli airstrikes which effectively stopping doing that. but the rate -- israelis themselves with tiger those airstrikes have stopped iran but they have not deterred them in continuing to focus on syria as a power projection face. >> thanks. your recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you guys. i want to completely associate myself

resolution 2254 basically to assad and others means he has to go before we engage assad. is it still our government's position and you as part of our government we don't at that you can to assad and he can be part of no negotiations. >> it's our position that we don't talk to assad, but assad is part of the u.n. negotiations that we support under 2254. having been involved in one or two regime change adventures in my career this is very different. this isn't our idea to overthrow assad. president trump is september on to the ndaa a classified position to congress on 1 march of this year laying out our policies and is explicit it isn't to overthrow assad. the idea of free elections is the decision taken by the international community. >> i'm saying it's a possible opening and i think until someone talks to assad there is no opening so the war goes on forever. i think that that's the realism of this, you know, the realism of this is we have to see the world as it is not as we naively paint in black and white and jefferson is going to come riding in on a horse. i know you se

shirley assad is stronger. assad is stronger. and this isn't good for iran? mr. hook: our military is in syria for isis, our diplomacy is focused on iran. that is why jim jeffrey and i worked together closely, because what i do on the pressure side and what he does on withholding reconstruction assistance, is mutually reinforcing. but diplomacy: has an impact if there is a military that is strong and in the region, and if our ally now aligns with our adversary, assad, that is not helpful for diplomacy and our interest in the region. that is a dramatic perspective on your part that iran is not celebrating what is happening in syria, it's extraordinary to me. let me turn to a different area. i do agree that there is an and norma's benefit in putting pressure on iran, whether it is maximum pressure or not, i don't know. but i believe a nation that decides to go nuclear should suffer a dramatic cost for doing so. whether they are at their knees or not, i don't know, and it is very hard for us to tell from the outside what is going on inside iran. but clearly, it woul

and with that relationship of the assad ridge on my - - regim regime? and those various organizations that they have received much acquiescing to deliver those communities inside syria. the very important security council resolution coming upe r for renewal which provides the international underpinning for the united nations toe enter into areas without the assad regime without that resolution all humanitarian aid delivered inside syria with approval that delivery is permitted to weaponize and politicize. >> my time is up. thank you very much. >> i will recognize myself. thank you both for your work. i am sure it must be ffrustrating. lop comprehensivel policy. but instead they've acted on a whim and have thrown our allies under the bus and in holding our enemies and i deeply, deeply concerned about this and of course you have seen to date in the vote we just took how bipartisan that rejection has been. but th the reputational damage t has been done you might have seen what i've seen from the scsa this is a stab in the back. why would anyone align with

assad. all the sanctions in the world are not going to fix that. does the administration have a plan for countering iran and syria and can you explain what it is and how it will account for recent gains by iran backed regime forces filling the vacuum we created an northern syria? mr. hook: i like to answer your first question and i will take the next one. not pose a first question, i posed a first question as it relates to that. first, answer my question. mr. hook: the president's decision with respect to syria is not going to change our iran strategy or the efficacy of it. iran has given assad $4.6 billion in lines of sent 2500 ofhave their own fighters and helped to support assad. thatiplomatic work investor jeffrey is heading is to ensure as part of a political solution that all of the forces in iran under a running and leave syria. we are withholding a reconstruction assistance as one of the levers that we have. >> you really think that after having withdrawn and let the iranians -- what

turn as turkish forces advance deeper into syria the kurds have turned to president assad and russia for help meaning that a face to face between the turks and the syrian army is possible also coming up a greek catalans protesting after spain supreme court finds the politicians who pushed for independence are guilty of sedition and disobedience. it's good to have you with us tonight longstanding alliances in the middle east are crumbling and it comes only a week after that announced pullback of u.s. forces in syria today syrian government troops moved into towns in the north east of the country at the invitation of the kurds is setting up a potential showdown with invading turkish forces it's all happening in areas controlled by the syrian kurds and the focus now is the strategic town of the turks have long threatened the town and now syrian troops have been the wild in to defend it. a local official in the town confirms that syrian troops have entered that there they are and like. syrian troops heading towards the takesh border 8 years after assad lost control over northern syria hi

arthel: russia has stood by assad the entire time, trey yngst thank you. eric: defending president trump's decision to pull those troops out of the northern region amid bipartisan outrage over that decision. says top priority is protecting our service members and u.s. forces will be trapped between the turkish army that's moving south and russian-backed fighters moving north. garrett tenney has more from washington. >> last night president trump ordered all u.s. troops to be removed from northern syria this after ordered u.s. forces to pull out of specific areas of the region which opened the door for turkish offensive without the protection of american troops u.s. officials say the kurdish fighters in the area are cutting a deal with the russian-backed syrian government forces to help push back turkey and prevent mass slaughter, on fox news sunday defense secretary mark defended president trump's decision. >> what we are facing u.s. forces trapped between a syrian russian army moving north to take on the turkish army moving south, puts us in a terrible po

biased toward the assad regime well i'm not biased toward the assad regime i just think we ought to understand what happened. from a mosque and use its q thanks for joining us on our to international and daniel hawkins welcome to the program. intends to meddle in next year's us presidential election that was the light hearted response from vladimir putin in answer to a question about moscow's plans. he's russia as well but. attempting to influence the 2020 lections states secret codes that you secretly yes we will indeed do that so we could chew you up properly but don't tell anybody ok well that's quite a statement coming from the russian president but you have to take it with a pinch of salt because he was obviously joking but on a more serious note he was addressing probably what might become russia did it his area of volume 2 now after all the numerous investigations that we've seen into russia's alleged meddling in the us presidential elections back in 2016 all the media hype that we've seen in the past 2 years pretty much every single quarter someone screamed that it was russia that medd

no, it would not benefit the assad regime. >> the one activity that we do have in assad-controlled areas is almost exclusively through un agencies, with few exceptions. the issue of keeping control of resources and ensuring the integrity of the program is a const challenge. it is something -- a constant challenge. it is something we watch very closely. pleased to keep the attention on it as we will as well. >> i am grateful we have bipartisan legislation on this point. covered verynot often, but i actually -- people of both parties can work together substantially, particularly in the middle east. secretary, are there any u.s. individuals they tend by the saudi government, and what claims are they making to their release? >> this is an issue of concern. nationalistual thing held by the saudis. we have been engaging with the saudi government continuously he has been held for some two years without being charged. recently, he was charged and released. they are going through a trial. we hear that is a positive development, and hopefully that trial will be over soon and he will be exonerated

is just lined out but the problem of let me put it is the following he kept assad in power but he has not the financial means to stabilize this regime so this is why he needs something that looks like a political solution to make the west pay for reconstruction and to normalize relations with damascus so that's the big plan afoot you know how to get a political solution something that looks so to make everybody conciliate with assad ok very fascinating insight. to begin with to me give us an idea of what the turkish people are saying about the latest developments about turkey having such a central presence now in syria. the situation in turkey is quiet like there is only one voice of what's going on in syria and that is pretty much counsel david by the fact that the media is pretty much console they did under the influence of the government so. when the incursion started it apart from the pro turkish party h.t.t.p. almost everybody in turkey was kind of lined up behind i or the one including the main opposition party including the voices that we were thinking that the would kind of ch

of assad and then those guys. my response was it sounds to me ike you're raising baby crocodiles in your basement. eventually you're going to have a lot of big crocodiles. in any event this kept on going, and mike's document is awesome, should read it, this war against isis was a vicious, brutal street by street war. and no one should be mistaken by that. 2014, fallujah falls to isis. fall of until the mosul and i was in iraq at the just and again, it was hard to know what was going on. i was walking into a meeting one night, nt obama in which i got an urgent call iraqi security official that baghdad was falling and it was hard to tell. event, in the summer of 2014 is where it was decided we concerted e a very effort to push back and that's hen we developed a campaign, which i think we'll discuss. but, that was kind of the sweep it, just starting where i came into it. >> i remember that time when about iraq worried falling, baghdad falling, because i was in baghdad getting calls saying baghdad has fallen from my e

and i think so assad is reconstituting his forces. i expect the russians and iranians and the iraqi militia's have fought inside along with solo money, inside syria, i think we're going to start seeing them retake areas of in the north and northeast as well area and so this goes back to a policy thing. you saw brett mention that the goal originally was to out assad, that's not happening now and he's back in ascendancy. and if that was our political goal, we should have seen it through, not we had to expected outcomes such as this. >> lightning round, you want to address assad or what trump said? >> i think the definition is assad retaking control of the country. and with the help of his allies. i don't think there's any other outcome possible in syria. >> i wrote one piece in foreign affairsyou can read after i left . we should narrow our goals in syria to. the resurgence of isis, i think that's now much harder. and a potential threat to israel that did a lot to help with the israelis, other than that our ability to affect the course

ensureyria, it is to pressure on the assad regime. askey sees the assad regime a threat to them. and to deter iran operating in the south of turkey. these are all congruent with our interests. >> their goals are to play a leadership role in the region. >> i want to thank the chairman and the ranking member for holding this meeting. thank you for your distinguished service. i don't envy you. this administration has brought this committee and house together on a bipartisan way. in a fashion that few issues have. we voted overwhelmingly to disapprove these actions. i want to talk about the u.s. strategic objective. and national security interest that you talk about. i want to ask you through each of these, beginning with the their has furthered strategic national security interests for us? >> it is an honor to serve my country. this administration. overall it is doing its very best to secure america. the one that has hit the hardest by what has happened is the defeat of isis. that was the purpose of our forces the minorities. the president has been thanked for his tireless efforts t

called animal assad. putin, who's long wanted his foothole in the middle east. and now, basically we have handed syria to him. and iran. >> so talk about dynamics of that now. now, the major players in syria will be assad, iran, and russia. and now, the kurds making this alliance with bashar al assad because it seems they have no other choice besides being literally wiped out from syria if they don't make that alliance. >> absolutely. it's a deal with the devil but it's the only thing they possibly could have done. the kurds, as we know, and we've heard over and over again, have been betrayed since world war i when they were promised their own land. in 2017, i witnessed the referendum, which was their chance to try to get something of a state that they've yearned for, that they've been promised time and time again. i saw them fighting. they are among the most noble people. they empower women. they believe in freedom of speech. they were our true allies. >> one of their female political leaders killed. >>

operations within syria and assad regime in damascus? would you say the assad regime benefits from u.s. programming in syria? >> well, if i can punt to mike harvey on that, my understanding is, no, that it does not benefit the assad regime. >> congressman, you're raising a very serious issue that concerns us greatly. as you know, the one place that -- the one activity that we do have in assad-controlled areas is our humanitarian assistance program that is implemented almost exculusively through u.n. agencies with a few exceptions. ensuring the integrity of that program is a constant challenge, but it's something we work very closely with our u.n. partners on, we watch very closely and it's, please do keep the attention on it as we will as well. >> and we -- i'm grateful we have bipartisan legislation on this point. and i know it's not covered very often, but actually people of both parties can work together substantially particularly in the middle east and then secretary schenker, are there any u.s. citizens currently held or detained by

biased toward the assad regime well i'm not biased toward the assad regime i just think that we ought to understand what happened here the only thing that matters is is this article technically correct this is a science based journal and if there's any technical errors in it then they need to point them out because they have they've actually in several conversations said they are not aware of any technical errors so the problem seems to be that there are accusations being made from the outside which have no scientific merit that it appears has caused them to take pause opus apostles' article pointed out the inconsistency is in the official version of events but has come under intense criticism. against give expects. where the sun revolves around us or us around it where the earth is flat who is god is greater or more recently whether we should question why every chemical attack in syria would magically gets blamed on the government the syrian government committed chemical weapons acts against their own people it is highly likely that the regime was responsible for a star an attack on

syrian kurds has also drawn in troops of syrian president bashar assad they have now entered the town of bani and also in control of the key town of man much of the fighting so far has been centered around the border city breath. clouds of dark smoke cover the syrian city of russell i billowing into the sky on the turkish border for more than a week now fighting is still raging between turkey's military and the kurdish y.p. jean militia criticism of turkey is growing around the world president urged one is standing firm insisting he won't be swayed by threats and sanctions i am looking very small operation will end when we control the borders so on stretching 30 to 35 kilometers into syria no power can stop us until we achieve this goal. hurdle one's words are directed at the west he's due to hold talks with the u.s. vice president and u.s. secretary of state on thursday mike pence and mike pompei i want to secure a cease fire in northern syria but turkey's government says it won't agree to a ceasefire with the kurdish militia. the president has said repeatedly we as a country fightin

-- the duty of the assad regime to address turkey's security concerns. so the assad regime is saying if you have problem with the kurds, let me deal with it. you stay away. but i think in the shore short term -- [inaudible] but i think that's going to be a short-term solution. can ask turkish forces to leave. and in terms of american troops, well, you know, it takes a tweet to change everything. but at least just yesterday we heard that americans are now light presence is weighing option to send troops back to syria. if that happens -- which is not a realistic thing -- but if that happens, that would only strengthen the kurdish hand in their negotiations with the regime and russia. but it's not -- [inaudible] u.s.' problems in syria. >> [inaudible] >> on russia, look, i think you have to take your hat off to putin. i mean, he essentially is playing a three-stage game. first, he managed to create tensions between turkey and the rest of nato, and so that's always been one of his goals. we also saw him doing that earlier. he got the united states out of syr

>> well a nightmare scenario, assad won. he es mated tdecimated the kurd project and ran back to assad for protection, a man who slaughtered a half million syrian civilians, the guy that used chemical weapons against his own people, it guy that butchered the syrians simply standing for more democracy, social justice and then we see putin that basically is the king maker, the deal maker of the middle east, the rise of isis on the other side, a force that was killed, butchered, decimated basically is revived and then turkey playing another role and dismissing the american -- i mean, american role in the middle east ends now, ends today with shame, betrayal, and genocide. >> michael, russia had its only i think foreign middle eastern base in syria, an assad syria, it was true before the war. it was the reason that putin went all in to defend assad and the reason i think in the balance it mattered to putin more than it mattered to us. quite clearly given that, does this actually mean anything extra, this sort of rapid withdrawal

as the kurds do a deal with president assad in damascus, there are those assad forces coming up through the country that could meet with those turkish-backed militia who have always vowed to fight against damascus. it's a tricky situation. in the background president putin is able to pick up the phone to president assad and erdogan. you asked about the humanitarian situation. we still have the situation of just thousands of civilians who have fled. we've seen some of those civilians celebrating ironically as president i sadassad's force arrived in the kurdish areas, that tells you how desperate they've been faced with the turkish military. the humanitarian situation is not good. there are dozens of casualties. you could say perhaps you might have expected more, but what people really fear is that this all leads to a clash between turkey and the syrian army, and of course the syrians backed by iran and russia and just where all that leads. on the other hand, i mentioned putin, perhaps putin is able to get a deal done that prevents that kind of clash. i don't think we could be confident o

him hate towards assad simply wasn't enough to save him. now turning to some other of our headline news the united kingdom. now turning to some other of our headline news the united kingdom is heading for an early general election parliament has approved prime minister blaze heading for an early general election parliament has approved prime minister barak's johnson's request for an election on december the 12th. horse johnson's request for an election on december the 12. we are used to the right 438 the nose to little we are used to the right 438 the nose to the left 20 or so the eyes of it the ayes have it yeah the good bad 20 so the eyes of it the ayes have it yeah the good day for the prime minister boris johnson as he wins his bid to get an a for the prime minister boris johnson as he wins his bid to get an election which is now over confirmed to be held on december the 12th selection which is now over confirmed to be held on december the 12th jones has been meeting with his backbench m.p.'s this evening and he's been meeting with his

risking it all to expose the atrocities of president bashar al assad and his regime. he just returned to washington again, to beg for action on what is described as the mother of all sanctions bills sits and sits and we were there. i do want to warn you, the images you're about to see are graphic and disturbing. >> reporter: we can't tell you his name. it's too dangerous to show his face. he won't even allow his voice to be recorded as he speaks through his translator. but we can show you these. almost 55,000 photos he risked his life to bring out of syria, some of which have never been seen publicly until now. and he's risking his life again to plead with congress to act. how are you feeling in this moment, being back in washington again? >> my feeling being here is a feeling of a bit of disappointment, and at the same time frustration, because after everything that i've done, in order to expose what the regime has done, we have yet to see any real action. >> reporter: his code name is caesar. he was a military photographer in damascus when the civil war began in 201

syrian troops are massing near the turkish border one day after bashar al-assad's government reached a deal to help protect the kurds from turkey's deadly aiair and ground assault. the kurds had been allied with the united states up until last week when president trump abruptly pulled u.s. troops from northern syria, paving the way for turkey's assault. more than 130,000 people have already been displaced over the past five days since turkey invaded northern syria. the death toll is unknown. turkey says over 500 "terrorist" have been neneutralized. turkey frequently refersrs to kukurdh groups ass terrorist. the third obseservatory for humn rirights is reporting tuturkish-backeded proxieses hat dead nine kurdish civilians including a prominent political leader, hevrin khalaf, who was killed along with her driver on saturday. she was the secretary general of the future syria party. kurdish authorities are reporting 785 people affiliated with the islamic state, including women and children, escaped from a kurdish-controlled displplacemet camp i inorthern s syria. "the new york times" is

of course this comes at a time when mr assad has the upper hand i mean he basically controls 2 thirds of the country right now. is he really interested in a political solution i mean if you was when you have done it before is this just spin. indeed i would agree with reading the situation that this is not actually working towards a political solution in syria the assad regime has no reason to make any concessions at this point quite on the contrary the constitutional committee actually constitutes a way for him to normalize relations to sit at the table again with players such as the opposition and civil society and to make it seem in fact that they are moving into the right direction when really it is all about process and not about outcome the ongoing human rights abuses inside syria the oppression and the war indeed are the problem and the main cause for suffering of syrian civilians and this committee sure they will not change that ok well let's talk a little bit more about this committee because this committee has a daunting task so it is tasked with building the political framew

returned to how it was before we see a russian backed troops all for the syrian dictator bashar al assad now supporting the kurds filling in that power vacuum that was created there are russian troops patrolling between the front lines and iran of course standing by to extend its impact on the region getting closer to its enemies israel out of that is really in the american interest president trump receiving lots of criticism for his decision to pull out off syria and it seems like the only option he has in his hands right now is to reiterate his threats with sanctions against turkey he has done so today again let's just listen in will president trump had to say. to bring our soldiers back home. and. would be very tough on turkey and a lot of others to maintain their own properties now they have to maintain peace and safety and we'll see what happens the delegation were asking for a cease fire we put the strongest sanctions that you could imagine but they get a lot we have a lot in store if they don't if they don't have an impact all right said donald trump that claiming the sanctions on

the other half going to bashar al assad. and then who knows how this is going to play out on the ground, as these two sides fight it out and there are militias moving around. and the people who are providing the only kind of security on the ground, who were the kurds, are now the -- the armed kurds, are now being told to leave. >> and as you just mentioned, it seems now they're being slandered as well by the vice president and our secretary of state. allow me just to mention two things before we move on. one, the president yesterday seemed to confirm that we have nuclear warheads in turkey, usually, all the time, u.s. officials do not confirm the location of where we are nuclear warheads. the president seemed to do so yesterday. and now the u.s. is bombing its own military sites, our own military sites in syria in order to reduce their usefulness. richard engel, keir simmons, gentlemen thank you very much. >> let >>. >>> let's turn now to the inquiry. acting chief of staff mick mulvaney just addressed reporters at the white

after all, iran has been the principle supporter of the assad regime. assad is now in greater control of that country. they continue to have influence in iraq. how do you see it? >> sure. thank you, fareed. i would say that the middle east got even more dangerous in this very short period of time. basically, if we look at the events in syria of the last week and we couple it with the attack on saudi arabia just last month, the fact that the united states has not -- or has been unwilling to use military force to protect two of its very direct interests, the saudis and the kurds, really sends the message to the rest of the region and the world that the u.s. is unlikely to use military force to protect its interests. and that will invite more provocations. and i think the most likely invitee will be iran. but it will also encourage those to make provocations thinking that the u.s. won't use any military force, when in some cases, the u.s. will be forced to use military force. so i think there's an increased chance of provocations and there's an increased c

so we're not up to our responsibility in this region and maybe of the kurdish id my turn to bashar assad in the end which is from their point of view the lesser of 2 evils compared to one and would say please come here and how could you you know protect the border which is still the national border of syria what about the kurds maybe turning to bashar al assad what about them turning to russia what about them turning to iran will the way to the moscow's leads through moscow so they would turn to putin writing it putin he would organize talks which have already taken place with the with kurds and the syrian regime in damascus talking about you know the syrian regime taking back military control administrative control and security control over the northeast part of seo which is exactly what bashar assad ones without fighting them so this would. obviously help and one might in the end say you know i would prefer the syrian regime at my border but not the fighters that aligned with the peacock a yeah yeah it's complicated and it's only getting worse. as always we appreciate your insights tha

and she supports pro-assad and pro-russia talking points. it took her forever to criticize assad. i wish she was half as critical against assad as she is against clinton in her tweets. look. hillary clinton is aware of the fact that russia had a disinformation campaign to help donald trump. they're still actively engaging the campaign. they will continue this campaign leading up to 2020 as we know robert mueller testified to this point. tulsi gabbard can be a use fful asset. jill stein was promoted by pro-russian outlets and bots. also let's not forget she was there clapping it up with putin at the propaganda dinner along with michael flynn. so you have to ask yourself why are pro-russian outlets and pro-russian bots and turker carlson by the way loving tulsi gabbard. and it could be because they want to see her as a spoiler candidate. and in august on cnn, she said she's open to considering a run as a third party candidate. i think she will. >> okay. hold on. she's ruled that out. and this is guilt by association. you remember when the right tried to do this to barack obama with

the winners here, frankly as you put it, vladimir putin of russia, bashar al assad. the murderer of damascus. the dictator of syria who has massacred huge numbers of his own civilians and iran. so on balance this is a tragic day for the united states. all of us are urging president trump to reverse course and to take force fill action. sanctions will not matter. the only difference is for this tragic and ill-informed decision. >> the question is is that even possible at this point. >> it's very difficult. >> if the kurds have seen this face of the administration, if they can may a dispute with assad. would they be welcomed? even if the u.s. wanted to send several hundred special forces back in, it's not clear that they would be allowed there. >> in talking with some contacts, some friends, where 10,000 kurdish fighters died in the work against isis, it was often a struggle to see that they trusted american troops who fought alongside them that we wouldn't withdraw, that we wouldn't abandon them given how hard erdogan and turkey have pressed to abandon the ypg and our

the assad regime in russia behind it. this thing actually raises a lot more questions than it gives answers. the reason being, the kurds have presented this as their salvation. russia is coming in now to protect us from this turkish onslaught. however, president erdogan of turkey is saying he's continuing to advance southward into syria. he's gunning for minbij, which is an important city. he already controls albab and jerodis. and he's said he coordinated with russia on kobani. it's the first place where the ppk and the militia posed in 2015. if turkey were to take this city as part of some macchavialian deal. i think they've been sold a pup here. they think russia and syria has their back. and another important thing, again, these deals are preliminary and have not been confirmed, but i'm seeing a lot of good reporting on them, the ftf is to be dissolved. this militia, this proxy armory which was largely responsible for defeating isis, is likely to melt into something called the fifth corps, which is a russian-run milit

it may be one where assad stays in power. but for those civilians that future, if there is a politicit and military settlement, maybe >> thank you so much general.. >> mexico's president has beennd deg the actions of his security forces after they first ed and then released government -- drug kingpin el chapo son. t has run c the senna loatel since his father sentenced to life in prison ithe united states. nghe was dained du a routine patrol but when cartel members en fire he was set free. the president says they took the ght decision to protect civilians. >> the scenes were reminiscent of a war zone. heavily armed cart gunmen prowling the streets engaging armed forces in battle with sustained firefight across the city. [gunfirere those caught in the middle ofno the confliinted what was happening. fearingor their lives, parents and children cowered in shopping malls and restaants, behind their cars, anywhere they could find cover. once the smoke lifted, the plain bega one of the heads of the senna a cartel, ts man, son of the

assad is still in power and syria. tulsi gabbard i think of her as sort of the frankenstein a foreign policy. she wants to be hailed as the peace candidate simply because she insists the united states should have peace. all of her solutions for achieving peace go contrary to achieving peace whether it's decimating the defense budget, cutting american nuclear weapons, or partnering with it butchers like assad or vladimir putin. >> dana: she had an exchange with a fellow candidate and also a veteran, mayor pete buttigieg. let's watch a little bit of that exchange. >> i knew one of the things keeping us safe was the fact that the flag on my shoulder represented a country known to keep his word. spigots are really what you're saying, mayor pete, is that youd continue to support having u.s. troops in syria for an indefinite period next time. to continue this regime change war that's caused so many refugees to flee syria. >> you can put an end back to endless war without embracing donald trump's policies. >> what is an endle