and north east of syria was also syria and north east of syria also where isis is believed to have bases there so resurrecting isis as a threat as a new threat to iraq is a worrying issue where isis is believed to have bases there so resurrecting isis as a threat as a new threat to iraq is a worrying issue and it is something that we all share. and it is some thing that. we all share this fear and this worrying aspect but that doesn't mean that this is something that a worrying aspect but that doesn't mean that this is something that is going to happen it is still something we have to take in consideration is going to happen it is still something we have to take in consideration and we have to prepare for it. and we have to prepare. to support. the judgments reportedly dismissed the hearing into the case of trumps former security advisor michael flynn who really dismissed the hearing into the case of trump's former security advisor michael flynn who would be completely guilty to lying lying to the to the f.b.i. f.b.i. i have to flynn's news new legal duty. this test test test amount of m

the better for syria and the region. talking syria i'm joined by my guess omar well coffin u.k. he is founder and director of the good osis a think tank in britain that focuses on syria and the middle east in beirut we have more awesome and she is an academic and journalist and in dublin we cross the mike rather he is coeditor of b s news dot info right across cycles in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want and i always appreciate it let's go to beirut 1st you know i read the reactions very closely to try for a partial withdrawal i mean he tried it before and he failed and now he's done it again in lieu of the another illegal and the invasion of syria this time by turkey i mean i was just aghast on that characterization of what's going on in syria right now and western audiences have been given so much to sim from ation and false narratives it's very difficult for them to even understand what's going on except for war must go on endless war and i've been a critic of donald trump for many things but this is t

s used to control 30 percent of syria millions of people live in that corner of syria and they are worried they're worried on what will happen next for example a lot of kurds do not want to find themselves living under turkish rule or the op the syrian opposition will arabs do not want to find themselves under the regime control because many of them are wanted for opposition activities so people as well are worried what will happen next to her with the latest for saying a thank you. so while all of this is happening turkey's president has dismissed claims that eisel prisoners have escaped from detention centers in northeast syria follows reports that an unconfirmed number of people fled from a center and i need after it was shelled by turkish forces s.d.f. says another prison camp and nearly was shelled by turkey on friday or one says his forces will take responsibility for thousands of eisel fighters and their families and northern syria earlier on sunday the u.s. announced it was pulling out all remaining american troops from northern syria the us president has been accused of abandoning

in syria an extension for these. groups that are by the way the stood by the us as a terrorist organization so they see that the us is being 2 sided here standing with the white beach you are supposed to be also terrorist as the p.k. car but that the 1st thing that they want to see is to create some sort of a safe zone in the in the northern part of syria that goes from men bush goes through to the. safe for heroes remiss. to save zone and then for them and for turkey or turkey not not for not for syria definitely and at the end of the day they would say look we are trying to save make this this piece of land a safe zone for us for our national security therefore we can station year we can be an occupying force but later on the planet and the gun to bring in $1800000.00 refugees he was he's willing to give them nationalities he wants distinction them and this saves on therefore by all means it will become a turkish learned ok well that turned into them are you know but nobody did consult to damascus about this did th

in syria, relatively small numbers of u.s. forces on the ground enabled a kurdish and arab ground force of approximately 60,000 personnel with our help, the s.d.f. lynn rated millions of innocent civilians from the violent oppression of isis and defeated the physical caliphate. some have estimate the that the s.d.f., the syrian defense force, made up of kurds and some arab syrians, lost more than 10,000 fighters taking on isis. it's true that many who joined the s.d.f. did so to liberate their home from isis. however, it is also true that even after their homes were liberated, the s.d.f., kurds and arabs alike, continued to pursue isis all the wait through the euphrates river valley where the last remnants of the fiscal fate were defeated earlier inner i do not. they were not only fighting for themselves, they were also fighting for us. they were fighting to help ensure that there were no more isis-directed or inspired attacks like those carried out in paris, brussels, istanbul, orlando and san bernardino. after the s.d.f. suc

the same situation in syria. "new york times" had reported there was up to 18,000 isis fighters across syria and iraq. the u.s. presence in syria was designed to roll up isis networks to the extent possible and most and poorly local forces and reconstitutes them after the losses of 10,000, they say, in the war against isis to build to in cells in the long term. as understand your special operation forces and green berets were in effort with ypg counterterrorism units to train them to do this on their own one day. so just pulled the plug on all that before has a chance to succeed, i think is a big mistake here. not planning at all for the withdrawal to the point where you see u.s. troops retreating and turkish backed forces firing on them as they retreat, which i had to read that three temps make sure i was reading it right, is just a picture of chaos. rather than the sort of near to midterm plan of stabilize these areas and is forced isis does e, we're seeing a really chaotic worst-case scenario withdrawing chaos

verses of syria. the actions of the united states to syria are clearly in violation of international law the us led coalition is there illegally and of interest the national will go to us in the current evolution is there illegally and against the will of the government in damascus. the u.s. made a statement saying it is staying in syria made another. the us made a statement saying it is staying in syria made another statement saying it's pulling out and even those who left for iraq are now coming back to syria to say they've been saying it's pulling out and even those who left for iraq are now coming back to syria to save the oil fields from mosul this looks like a pretext to me especially considering that back in march of the oil fields from mosul this looks like a pretext to me especially considering that back in march washington said are so little in defeat. this syrian constitute washington that are so little in defeat. the syrian constitutional committee of syria led syria as all the partisan fo

syria still matters. making this case is not something that our group took for granted. especially at a time of heightened public debate about the u.s. role in the world and what we should invest to achieve u.s. objectives. the group was unanimous in its conclusion that what happens in syria does not stay in syria. the united states contained leverage to influence an outcome that protects u.s. interests. they have enormous implications for the conflict in syria and for u.s. interests. we will discuss the study gro group's specific assessments and recommendations, but needless to say, syria still matters. the fundamental drivers of c conflict and i violence in syria are unchanged today. notably, there's bipartisan acknowledgment of these points here in congress. the conflict in syria was regulated to the margins of public attention before last week. now it is front and center of international headlines and has captured domestic attention. as the executive and legislative branches of the u.s. government wor

from syria, they want to disengage from syria. they regard the sicilian that the syrian refugee problem is a very important issue. they think turkey has had lots of negative impact from the syrian policy pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first pursued so far. all right, let's go to ourfirst question pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first question here. pursued so far. all right, let's go to ourfirst question here. it pursued so far. all right, let's go to our first question here. it is from humeda elith karatash. hello. my question is, even though most countries accept that turkey is powerful in the region, why do these solutions that turkey offers often get ignored? like what they are proposing about syria? hussein, i think that is one for you. actually, i think that no other external force in syria has a solution. if you ask me about, what is the end goal for american involvement in eastern syria, northern syria, i have no answer. if you ask the same thing for russia, i don't know. but if you ask for turkey, t

syria is different. we have been unwilling in syria to negotiate in a sense that our assad,as been, remove and no one wants to negotiate with assad. it is going to be ironic because everybody seems concerned about the kurds that actually the kurds' permanent solution is more likely to come from assad. he is there, largely is going to stay barring something untoward happening to him from his own people, but the war is largely over, assad stays. if we are going to be realistic and want to protect the kurds, maybe the diplomatic arena has gotten simplified. now you have turkey on one side in syria on the other. everybody is going to talk about sanctions, which i don't think will work, but somebody from the state department that is involved with diplomacy ought to be saying, why don't we use our leverage to get turkey and assad to talk? but we would have to acknowledge someone is going to talk to assad. and if we did, the goal would be to allow the kurds to live in the northeastern quadrant of syria, similar

had deployed troops to syria northern syria a decade ago that is also not true ground troops arrived there in 2015 the us president did not mention russia at all in his speech today instead he focused on turkey and he portrayed president aired a one as a leader who had come to his senses and if no one ever misbehaves again trump warns that punishment by sanctions is always an option so the sanctions will be lifted or less something happens that we're not happy with. this was an outcome created by us the united states and nobody else by the moves that we've made we're achieving a much more peaceful and stable area between turkey and syria including a 20 mile wide safe zone turkey syria and all forms of the kurts have been fighting for centuries we have done them a great service and we've done a great job for all of them and now we're getting out. all right we have a team of the correspondence on this story for us tonight from washington d.c. our very own or before the alias and our very own teri schultz is in brussels tonight good evening to you both pablo i want to start with you tru

along the border between syria northern syria and southern turkey is that military offensive begins and some smoke in the distance as the military attack happens we're going to cross over to bill in iraq's kurdistan region in the north of the area where our correspondent bernard smith joins me but that you're also getting word that this military offensive has begun by the turks let's just begin with reaction if there is any from kurdistan officials but surely they'll be concerned about an influx of refugees from the area. i think that is the main concern so there's been no immediate reaction to the news coming out of turkey in the confirmation that this assault on kurdish held areas in northeastern syria by the turkish military has started but yes one of the biggest concerns has always be about the fear not just of more refugees coming in to this part of iraq from syria but also the threats to the cams that are holding eisel prisoners now in the kurdish administers parts of northeastern syria there are some $11000.00 it's thought to be i saw related prisoners and they are in detention c

forces leaving northeastern syria would be able to go to. base in western iraq now there are already about $5000.00 u.s. troops in iraq as part of a previous agreement and it was presumed that that would just be those troops would just be added to that agreement and then on wednesday a very strong statement from the iraqi military saying look they're only allowed to transit through iraq they're not allowed to stay and then we're hearing that they may well go to kuwait in the south which is a significant distance away from northeast and syria i think the problem is the language that the u.s. have used what they've said is that the u.s. forces will come back to. in western iraq and mount operations against syria from there and against eisel from there and that seems to the iraqis know what the iraqis have actually said is that we are going to meet with the prime minister and the foreign minister will meet with marcus per the secretary of defense and we are hoping for some clarity on exactly what this deal means that should be a press conferenc

the syria study group. the group's co-chairs testified on the findings of the republican and how they can be applied to the current situation with syria and turkey. and turkey. this hearing will come to order and we welcome everyone. the subcommittee testimony on the findings and recommendations in the study group's final report. given the timing of the hearing we will have the opportunity to discuss the ramifications of the policy changes in syria and a study group recommendations to still address the challenges that are. for the purpose of an opening statement. >> thank you very much for testifying today and for your work and the final report of the study group. your report as a thoughtful review of the conflict and provides pragmatic recommendations for how policymakers can protect u.s. interests and destabilize syria. now it is well known president trump does not like to read but i wish that he had skimmed over the executive summary before the recent phone call with the turkish president. your assessmen

forces from militant syria. to date we have the great privilege of welcoming [inaudible] executive president of steering the mechanic counsel and former special forces officer who fought alongside our kurdish spf allies in northern syria. we are also joined by bernice from save the children to provide an update on humanitarian situations in syria as well as immediate [inaudible] director of policy and research at the group and a former diplomats. we are also pleased to welcome director of the cato institute. a quickly just takes note for our members as you have noticed their company by a translator and - it will require additional time to interpret questions and answers between members in the witnesses. i intend to hold members to the usual five minute time limit for questions i will allow extra time at my discretion if i determine that fairness requires granting a member additional time whether that member is democrat or republican. i'd like to again thank our witnesses for your willingness to help this committ

s in syria and in the region. unilateral military action on his part threatens the progress achieved by the global coalition against diane. it will undermine the security of the coalition's local partners including the syrian democratic forces and risks protracted instability in northeast syria providing for ground for the resurgence of dyess which remains a significant threat to regional international and european security. it is unlikely that a so-called safe zone in northeast syria as envisaged by turkey would satisfy international criteria for refugee return as laid down by you and h.c.r. . we maintain our position that refugee and i did he returns to the places of origin must be safe voluntary and dignified when conditions allow. any attempt at demographic change would be unacceptable. we want to be clear that the e.u. will not provide stabilization or development assistance in areas where the rights of local populations are ignored. turkey is a key part of the european union a nato ally and a member in the g

in syria. yeah we need life and safe life to go back to syria we need peace and stability to be in syria we need to sort out what's the syrian crisis yes and we will hand these territories to. their real owners. and we are keen to take part in all meetings and summits that. am at sorting out the syrian crisis. this operation will be a sow's of peace and this will bring peace and we'll sort out the syrian crisis in the radical way. this operation led by president ratchet gun. is. one of the steps is one perceived among the other procedures on the steps taken by president. for the sake of syria and for keeping the unity of syria. turkey. since last year has been a target a conspiracy and then economic crisis and we have done all what we can in order to find real solutions to this crisis and to take steps that will sort out our economic problems and to confront our enemies and the traitors these steps have started through reducing the bank of interests and. combating inflation. and support all the

western syria that the governor told him that one of the last remaining areas in western syria that the government does not control just driving through province which is the last opposition instrument does not control just driving through province which is the last opposition stronghold in syria the last stronghold against bashar assad in syria the last stronghold against bashar assad was the ice a leader's shell to let that sink in was the ice a leader's shell to let that sink in dug he did not have many allies there but nonetheless it was as rational as it was albert duddy did not have. many allies there are but nonetheless it was as rational as it was obvious it lib the best place on earth for a terrorist to blend in obvious it lib the best place on earth for a terrorist to blend in is a province just the largest al qaeda safe haven since $911.00 there in is a province just the largest al qaeda safe haven since $911.00 the region is under the thumb over. formally known as al qaeda region is under the thumb over. formally known as al qaeda in syria it has some 10000 fighters depl

is giving some sort of green light to turkey to take their place in syria my own view is that syria is for the syrians and that 'd both the u.s. and turkey need to believe in stay at a just finally the mustin nations of this you know pulling away all the talk the bok talk what you have is is one country entering another sovereign nation how do you expect the syrian government to respond just finally. i would think the syrians will be very cautious i mean they've been fighting a civil war now for a number of years one which the u.s. has been very vocal involved in both directly and through sarah gets including through isis which the u.s. has supported at times syria has largely won the war this point they do not want this war to go on i'm sure they're going to watch to see what happens i think that you know these negotiations with the kurds may bear some fruit i think the syrian government wants a united syria under government control and they're going to act very gingerly to make sure that happens without inspire. some sort of attack direct attack by you know we're. down thanks for you

steps taken by president to one for the sake of syria and for keeping the unity of syria so let's look at exactly where this is all happening now turkish forces are launching attacks against the town a foot off the line troops have also gathered near the turkish border town of charlie it's thought they'll cross into the town of tal to which u.s. troops recently evacuated that town those in territory held by the s.d.f. kurdish led forces turkey are ready has a presence in syria holding a number of observation points those however are northwestern syria an area mainly controlled by turkish and rebel forces let's bring in said in kosovo he's joining us from istanbul what more are we hearing from officials about this operation. they're in this operation on for the today at 4 pm local time which is 13 g.m.t. time someone according to. sources underground turkish military started shelling and bombing in the areas of wrestling on and tell of be at. the tactical aim to start with arista ion and tell about is to divide a long corridor or a look along solid base of. idea or a y p g entity accord

the group what is unanimous that what happens in syria does not stay in syria. we argue that to be prioritized the united statesng retain leverage of influence and outcome to protect us interest. the decisions over the last ten days have enormous implications for syria. t 14 will discuss a specific study group recommendations but the fundamental drivers of conflict and violent are unchanged. notably there are those points here in congress those were largely delegated before last week now they are front and center of international compliance. as the executive legislature works to articulate toor realistically achieve the majority of us forces are withdrawn report proposes a series of specific nonmilitary recommendations park is also important to remind ourselves of the order of conflict and plant syria with the broader strategic landscape of nationalhe.s security it has fie challenges international terroris terrorism, iran, russia, refuges and international norms it began as a peaceful protest against an autocratic dictator from the arab spring in 2011 although t

the claims that we are going to change the demographics of eastern syria northern syria this is also disinformation there is absolute truth about this. this by saying on the contrary to this the demographic the demographic demographics of that area has been changed by dippy k.k. they have invaded iraq big towns and villages in there and they invaded and occupied those places these this this is the p.k. k. the terrorist organization who has been financially supported by the usa by the united states so what ruins the demographics in that region is beginning by p p p u p y g and p k.k. and of course the most important result of the most important aim of this operation is over not to not upset saying in the demographic system in the region so we are the country he opened the door we open that is its jaws and of course when while we're doing that we're not going to risk their lives this cannot be this this wouldn't make sense. clear move away from abraham collins and take it to the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. kelly craft speaking on the situation northeast syria will listen and including

thus all actions in syria are driven by our core object he was defeating islamic terror, restoring syria to a civilized state, and ensuring the removal of all iranian commanded forces from that country. some argue these object he was are too ambitious. but frankly we have no other choice than to pursue them in order to lead the world out of the crisis. now in dealing with today's situation in northeast syria turkey is obviously the immediate heavy. it acted unwisely and dangerously as you have indicated despite as i'm ready to despite warning after warning and incentive after incentive from this administration to choose differently including a package of economic and security commitments and a visit to washington. as a result, millions of vulnerable syrians are syria democrat forces sdf forces in the israel, jordan and iraq and the gulf and in the end turkey itself through this intervention are all made less secure and isis made more emboldened. but in digging out of this mess let us remember with turkey's actions we face another all too common regional phenomenon with the nato state. a

withdrawal from syria. let's begin with the key prslets in the region. who are they and what has been happening before the president made this decision? guest: the key players include turkey, which has invaded northeastern syria, as well as the turkish military. we have a large body of turkish proxy forces which are the main forces conducting the offensive on the ground. this includes members of the syrian opposition, members of the free syrian army, some of which who have had a historic relationship with the united states. host: they are against bashar al-assad. guest: which makes this a complicated operation because turkey is building a counter assad force, but using that to fight the american local partner in the east. iskey's reason for fighting its leadership is kurdish. there is a kurdish militia that conducts most of the capable military fighting. that is known as the ypg and is affiliate-- a syrian of a wider kurdish movement inside turkey, the pkk. president erdogan has warned the u.s. that the partnership with the ypg was unacceptable to him, h

our actions and syria are driven by our core objectives, defeating islamic terror, restoring syria to a civilized the removalntering of all iranian commandant forces from that country. some argue these objectives are too ambitious. frankly, we have no other choice than to pursue them in order to lead the world out of this crisis. in dealing with today's situation in northeast syria, turkey is the heavy. it has acted unwisely and dangerously, as you have afterted, despite warning warning and incentive after incentive from this administration to choose differently, including a package of economic and security commitments and a visit to washington. as a result, millions of our stfle syrians, partners in the northeast, israel, jordan, iraq, and turkey itself, through this intervention, are all made less secure. and isis is more emboldened. let us remember that with turkey's actions, we face another regional phenomenon, this time with a nato state, that is, a major neighbor to a conflict feels it's asks this dental security on its border is not advanced by -- it's existential security on i

syria? what are we doing to prevent turkey from forcibly displacing kurds and resettling syrian refugees along the border? andcan we prevent iran russia from exploiting the situation to their benefit? last week i was pleased to see a strong bipartisan majority passed a resolution that i authored with chairman engel calling on turkey to end this operation. vice president pence and secretary pompeo were successful in brokering a temporary cease-fire. if turkey continues its destructive campaign we will quickly pass new bipartisan legislation that will bring hard-hitting sanctions against erdogan's government. i hope the cease-fire works. i look forward to ambassador at jefferies testimony. you will give us some insight within the administration as to what has taken place the last five days with the cease-fire. i want to thank you for being here right now. there will be a press conference at the white house in probably 35 minutes. manlieve you are the right for this job at a very challenging ti

on the turkey syria border and later. filed this update. fast moving developments tonight and states is decision to leave northeastern syria effectively created a vacuum there are many players in the syrian conflict and all of them would like a stake in this corner of syria it is a strategic corner it is where oil fields are located it is the ag it's the bread basket of syria for the damascus government is cash strapped it would it would definitely want to regain control of this area the s.d.f. the kurdish lead as the had little choice because 1st of all it was abandoned by its allies the united states and it is coming under attack and the turkish army along with their local allies the opposition syrian national army they have been launching an operation against a group they consider a terrorist organization because according to turkey the. backbone of the s t f is the syrian kurdish armed group the white p.g. which is linked to the outlawed p k k so the s.d.f. had little choice it struck a deal with damascus a russian brokered deal that ag

turkish invasion of syria the u.s. government imposes a new sanctions on turkish officials of the country's offensive and syria and demands an immediate ceasefire. a group of syrian soldiers sent to the key city of members as turkish forces are preparing to advance . a protest against a move by getting these president extend his to turns violent to the capital plus. mass protests and spain sentences separatist leaders to long jail terms. u.s. president donald trump is calling for an immediate cease fire in northern syria with turkey is carrying out a military campaign in kurdish areas tens of thousands of people have fled the area the trumpets also approved a series of sanctions on to a fellow nato member he signed an executive order authorizing sanctions against several. turkish minister says the us president has also given the green light to his treasury department to increase tariffs on to state imports also on the economic front the u.s. is canceling talks on a $1000000000.00 trade deal with trump says sanctions wo

syria and the many times he said syria is is just sand and death and i'm not interested it is no much there isn't really interest money interest money u.s. interest in well now oil fields well it's not significant i mean syria's only reserve is not really big it's not significant so the americans even when you talk about the gulf but i didn't actually said it many times let's do what's actually who are in need for the oil and the gods of the of the bijan god let them come and both take their supplies i mean he said it many times so what about syria which has much less oil and does it is a have done than the gulf this man is mainly interested about his reelection campaign in the united states he's mainly concerned about his rivals inside the united states more than more than he cares about russia and about iran or about the syrian the syrian conflict so this is something that is really important that the drug understand on the other hand when we talk about the as a done up process i totally agree that the americans seem they have already lost i think in syria and what sense and the sen

i can think of nothing more dangerous than withdrawing all of our troops from syria as we -- syria. as we saw when we with drew under the previous adfrrgs -- from iraq with 10,000 force, that's when we sue -- saw the rise of ius sis and the ho -- and the so-called caliphate. we'll have a residual force in syria, working to help defeat and make sure isis is never again a threat to the homeland. finally, it identified turkey's purchase of the russian s-400 system as a transaction subject to sanctions under the counting america's adversaries through sanctions act, caatsa. how can you be a nato ally and purchase russian military equipment? we let turkey into nato to protect phlegm the soviet union and now our nato ally is buying russian equipment. russian military equipment. through its invasion into syria, threatening our allies. for these reasons, i urge support of this bill and once again want to thank chairman engel for once again coming to a bipartisan resolution when once again they said it couldn't be done, mr. chairman, we got it done. i thank you for that. i reserve the balance

in syria. i think we will need to see a diplomatic push to hold our anti-isis and anti-asad coalition together maintaining the policy of withholding economic reconstruction and imposing sanctions and diplomatically isolating the regime. many of our allies may be inclined to peel off of the coalition. in closing our report warned that this was not a conflict that was over, that it remained dynamic and dangerous. recent events have borne that out. it is important we stop relinquishing leverage and using the leverage. my fear is we are not going to see a end to the endless war as a result of recent decisions. we will find american forces helping keep the peace and stability and what will really contribute to endless conflict is deterioration of american credibility in the region. >> thank you. and now i will begin the questioning, the 5-minute rule, i will begin by following mister wilson. i want to start with where you left off talking about american leverage. you laid out five areas. i want to a

let him go i think syria last. thanksgiving. that. would. move. down the lazy about route for about with him. what a shame. you have. thank you so much. yeah well you know. what look like i hate it. i think about. that. right now if i lived that life. you would sound like gunner glad i'm in class when i get one line so what i will say. i'm going to. do your. one thing war. is a look at this market from take. and look at all still yes i'm thankful you sound cloud will not accept. me. and i know someone or. am. going to. love. a good. book he. says. is their mission is high. school. on my from my. home mom. that implies. that i thought and was gone on about this i must end up with the former not that there's a secret of not having enough. cops out of battery. i was due. to walk out with. my. lawyer a little while. so . that now. you know move on behalf of you. for some time now you can kiss my. butt but barring some minor junk i was wrong. this will come well you know. young well you know oklahoma pushing. this you know what my father would jump. an

the syrian government or syria . or syria. why did. the basque used to be. back when this all started president assad did offer 300000 . all citizens so i think the voters there is time for that for that relationship to. come back together again but if that is their only hope he said that sure it's all you have mentioned. the spartans may have damascus one point whether that's still the case well they're going to see or i'm going to jump in here we're going to go to a short break and after that short break we'll continue our discussion on syria stay with r.t. . just . on this connection i'm almost glad to ask for the last company and seeing and on the day today for the facts. on the commission. branches just shoot on disk in the. green zone teaching mom. you know new car so said i'm not going much to the mama back yet. in this community there are people who believe that it's ok. it's really hard there are no jobs and you see the kids. and as a parent. i can come up with arguments and there's a lot of conflict within the game and between the teams close to th

doubt the iran rather than syria saying that they respect syria's sovereignty that this operation is a must do thing and the turkey will try to do things as quickly and as safely as possible with. little violence possible peculiar because why wouldn't you reach out to sample another country that iran eases a strange choice they've also been rumors that the s.d.f. has tried to reopen dialogue talks with the masks with president asad the logic presumably being that if the syrian army moved into northern northeastern syria then the turks would have no choice but to withdraw they wouldn't want to warn multiple fronts the other rumor is that assad has said no i said it said that we will only move in if you give up all weapons and reintegration of self into into greater syria the surprising thing is how quickly the united states pulled out this is this is the s.d.f. are talking about this whole operation against isis in syria that the united states around separate from the russian and syrian what it was it was you know on the ground the troops on the ground with vast is vast majority were

i think he's building the strings right now in syria and he used syria as well in order to boost his position not only in inside syria but in the entire region now he's the friend of almost everybody now in the region unlike the united states which is the some high. being less. i have seen even by its own allies. that they cannot rely on the united states we have seen how they are not he says that with the see the democratic process and we have seen actually what but as than when he had a few was actually to retaliate against iran when iran actually. launched that attack on a few weeks a few weeks ago yet something that their own do that i have to mention i mean the americans are saying iran is a sponsor most of the americans i was thinking on is this once a while so they should have for the saudis and you tell yet again that iranian action with are we like with are we believe that iran is a sponsor or not that is a different issue but mr kaplan i think you have a very interesting point here and i want to ask you specifically about russia's policy because it's usually framed in terms

troops from syria. well an opinion piece for the washington post a turkish presidential aide has called on the international community to support ankara's efforts to bring peace and stability to the region farted out and says turkey has no ambition in northeastern syria except to neutralize a longstanding threat against hackish citizens and to liberate the local population from the yoke of armed thugs regarding the why p.g. them out and calls militants he says if they are genuinely interested in fighting islamic state they can defect without delay or they can listen to their commanders who say that they will fight the turkish forces in which case we will have no choice but to stop them and goes on to say the us has borne the brunt of the counter islamic state campaign for too long turkey which has major 2nd largest army is willing and able to take the lead now and drive it home while our correspondent ali stratford is an article a on turkey's border with syria charles what kind of movements have you bee

if they might he says decide to withdraw from syria that completely from the north east of syria that means that the united states has completely scrapped the strategy which has been actually outlined by former secretary of state and ex to lessen it do it in a major speech he made at the over institute at rice university in new york in january 2018 he defined 4 key u.s. objectives from staying in the north east of syria number one is to prevent that he by vilifies and number 2 is to prevent iran from having a land go to door between iraq syria and lebanon number 3 is to use the us military presence in the north east as a leverage to brush of the syrian regime to accept political solution and number 4 is actually true is this but as it's in the northeast of syria in order to put pressure on the syrian regime that a few g.'s now of the united states the side that to withdraw completely that means this lot that she has actually been abandoned and they not this this actually is allowing iran to have this land called a door or maybe we still don't know how how deep will go inside syrian te

victims or syrian the perpetrator in syria and the crime were committed in syria but nonetheless they all prosecuted and. that's how it works that's a principle of universal jurisdiction and it's a level for really grave crimes crimes that we consider that or crimes against all humanity all mankind such as crimes against humanity to daughter. and that's why it's so grave that they should tackle the issue and try to prosecute the. valerie you mentioned grave crimes there and i wanted to bring up this tweet reminding us all of what some of those crimes were this from the global center for the responsibility to protect their right throughout the 8 year war in syria every major principle of international law has been violated indiscriminate attacks on civilians sexual violence a blockage of humanitarian aid deliberate targeting of hospitals and humanitarian workers have been the hallmarks of this war so keeping that in mind is why we see tweets like this jonah says if there's no accountable government and sound judicial system in syria then it's better to have some kind of justice in germ

forces completely from syria no i think. that's an aberration i mean they had the opportunity they've been planning this for a long time for months and they and they carted out with panache had some of the u.s. special forces in to the people who helped them. every dead terrorist is a good terrorist but. the fact is that on the one hand he does this and on the other hand as been pointed out he pulls out of an area leaving. the kurds who are god ing thousands if not more of i says terrorists in the lurch they're desert in these camps of course because they have to fight or have to relieve the region and these terrorists are going to come back home not to find states to europe the fact is that donald trump has decided to cut his losses in the middle east he's decided we spent 5 trillion dollars there we've lost $7000.00 men we're going to go home and leave it to the rest of the world to sort it out he said he said oh these people have to fight it out it's like 2 kids in a school in a school ground you have to fight well it's n

president, i rise today to address the current situation in syria. first, i welcome the vice president's announcement of a cease-fire which will prevent further loss of life. i hope the agreement is honored. but at the heart of this matter is a central question of why these terms and assurances were not negotiated before the president consented to withdraw our troops. let me briefly recount what's happened in the past seven days since the u.s. announced our withdrawal. the kurds suffering loss of life and property have alied with assad. russia has assumed control of our previous military positions and the u.s. has been forced in many cases to bomb, of our own facilities. the announcement today is being portrayed as a victory. it is far from a victory. serious questions remain about how the decision was reached precipitously to withdraw from syria and why that decision was reached. given the initial details of the cease-fire agreement, the administration must also explain what america's future role will be in the region. what happens now to the kurds

troops from syria allowing turkey to try to crush kurdish forces in the north east in syria and setting the stage for a resurgence of islamic state. also coming up cattle on separatists clashed with spanish police in barcelona for a 2nd night that angry over a court ruling that sending 9 caps last leaders to prison for their role in a 2017 independence day. and the deal to stop the u.k. crushing out of the european union could now be in range but talks are continuing into the night in brussels and time is running out last. minute gifts mckinnon thanks for joining us the united states wants to broker a cease fire and northern syria between turkey and the it's us vice president mike pence and secretary of state might pompei i will head to turkey on wednesday now this comes up to the u.s. slapped economic sanctions on her for launching an attack on the kurds in north eastern syria president trumps decision to withdraw military. forces from syria has left a dangerous fact hume syrian government forces have returned to the area for the 1st time in years after striking a deal with the kurds t

against his nato ally the dramatic reversal comes as turkish forces advance deeper into syria trump has slammed turkey's actions as a dangerous threatening peace security and stability in the region also coming up angry catalans protests up to spain supreme court finds the politicians who pushed the independence guilty of sedition and disobedience one is jailed for 13 years and the nobel prize for economics goes to a trio of u.s. based research shows who have broken new ground in efforts to lift the world's poor house of property. i mean you could as mckinnon thanks so much for joining me to widespread criticism u.s. president donald trump has backtracked on his policy in northern syria he's announced sanctions against turkish officials over chris incursion against codes there and he slammed turkey's actions as dangerous trump had previously announced that u.s. troops would be withdrawn from the region and that has led kurdish fighters to ally themselves with the syrian government to which they had previously. again opposed. the syrian town of ras al-ain pounded by turkish a terrori

you look at syria, syria hates isis. we are over there killing isis. don't forget, we are 7,000 miles away. so we are killing isis, we are 7,000 miles away. russia is much closer. iran is right there. turkey is right there. they all hate isis. turkey, a little bit less so. the others, very much. they had a plane broke up by isis pray they want nothing to do with isis paired russia is tough. they can kill isis just as well, and they happen to be in the neighborhood. all i'm saying is this -- i'm not going to lose potentially thousands and tens of thousands of american soldiers fighting a war between turkey and syria. syria is not our friend. assad is not our friend. that's the way it goes. please ask a question. >> reporter: you said you withdrew 28 troops. >> president trump: they say it was 28. we thought it was 50, but it was 26 to 28 troops. all accounted for, nobody injured. nobody entered, nobody missing. it's really nice. report might look what happened since those troops have withdrawn and since you had that conversation with president erdogan.

look at syria. there is only one state department diplomat on the ground and we need to invest more in humanitarian aid but development assistance to help those nations where they have fragile governments, unstable societies, weak economies, little opportunity where you find war, conflict and strife so we need a holistic approach with partners and allies around the globe and that is how we minimize the likelihood, potential of armed conflict. >> the first of two armed service committee members that are going to join us on washington journal this morning, the others michael walsh, and republican from florida, part of that group of republicans who is the front page of the washington times puts it stormed the impeachment probe yesterday. you likely saw the news reporters house republicans go to the deposition hearing room yesterday. what our concerns about republicans when they did that? there wasn't a formal vote on impeachment and impeachment proceedings. republican say democrats were either scared o

interest to be in syria. i think the military objectives that were achievable, destroying the caliphate of isis have been achieved and that in the long term it serves our national security interests. buffer -- turkey remains a nato ally you and the character of the turkish regime has changed since the cold war days. the kurds, that was not something politically achievable for us. the devil is in the details and the implementation of this was done very quickly, very chaotically, and in a way that maximized the likelihood that the turks would move in and attempt to annex this kurdish territory. the current spot with us against isis, they are not a treaty ally -- the kurds fought with us against isis, they are not a treaty ally. they were seeking territory and security from isis. it was an important fight for us, we regard isis as a threat to the united states national security that wanted to deal them a serious blow. they were growing and gaining in territory. ofiously the trustworthiness the u.s. with prospect