jones joining us from istanbul good morning dorian what are you hearing about the agreement between the kurds and damascus could syrian government forces be deployed in the north of syria well we're not hearing any details on the precise arrangement in fact there hasn't been any fishel confirmation by damascus that a deal has been struck off of them that they are deploying forces towards the border with turkey now believed to move into the town of campania right on turkey border very strategically important but i'm understanding of this deal is that they will ultimately secure the whole of syria's northern border with turkey but as i said there are real no details of what the make the details of how this will be carried out be i think the understanding is that the syrian kurdish forces are accepting that they are now falling under the control of the damascus regime and that one statement from a prominent kurdish leader said we don't trust these people were very unhappy that a very bitter pill to take but the alternative was genocide and i think that gives you an understanding of the

well joining us now from istanbul is it already correspondent dorian jones story german chancellor angela merkel has told turkey to immediately halt its offensive in northern syria have we heard any reaction from the turkish side yet. well there's been no direct response to chancellor merkel's call but for sunday president has been dismissing calls similar calls from other european leaders saying turkey easing into listen to what he says is this call to end the fight against terrorism they say this is very much about the future of the country nothing will dissuade turkey from continuing its operations and in fact turkey does appear to be ramping up its operations given the fast moving developments happening in syria now that turkey very much see this is a key moment this is not a moment now to step back but rather to operations up further is even speculation turkey could extend its operations far beyond the original objective of the 30 kilometer safe so turkey really sees this as a critical moment for the whole region this is a moment the turkey has to address all its concerns it's here t

and joining me now from istanbul is the correspondent dorian jones dorian german chancellor angela merkel has told turkey to immediately halt its offensive in northern syria have we heard any reaction from the turkish side. no there's been no reaction as of yet but it is expected to make what is a listen to these latest call in fact earlier in the day speaking mocked european leaders calls for an end to this operation underline the turkey's commitment that they are going to pursue this operation until all their object is or have been achieved and the present heard one does appear to be indicating a further expansion in the initial objectives of creating a 30 kilometer safe zone it now talk of expanding the operations far further than that i'm speaking to a source head of the operation he said the turkish military persians could be as far as 100 kilometers deep into syria possibly the taliban health sako where the many of the reminded of refugees are fleeing to possibly took shoppers could extend as far as that turkey really sees this is an opportunity of securing its border in its mind on

let's bring in correspondent dorian jones who's covering the story for us from istanbul dorian so it is now day 2 of the offensive how fast are turkish forces now advancing in syria well we all seem intensification of the fighting particularly around the towns of telling. these are 2 strategically important towns the heavy fighting last night and that fighting is still continuing today we've took your special forces believed to be leading the operation on top of that strike some artillery continuing to strike all along this several 100 kilometer front that has been opened up by turkey defense minister claiming that they have captured a number of important villages and of a strategic targets at the same time reinforcements are steadily building up pouring into syria also accompanied by elements of the free syrian army a force that has been fighting the syrian regime but now a closely allied with turkish forces. meanwhile dorian we've seen the turkish president lashing out at any criticism of this offensive and he's now threatening to send refugees to the e.u. let's listen to what he s

there are going to going to istanbul now that's correspondent dorian jones is standing by hey dorian so there we have a turkish president. making threats what's he trying to get at that i think this is all about money and the comments by young clued the european union president yesterday where he said the european union would not provide any money for what turkey's plans of a safe zone in syria turkey want to create a 30 kilometer deep several 100 kilometer long a buffer zone in which he says he will house millions of us iraqis currently living in turkey now turkey is looking for the european union to pay for that is a price tag of over $20000000000.00 euros and the comments by you in kuwait he's condemned this operation call for restraint said that we will not give a single penny for these plans has provoked this angry response from one because a key part of that once time is that the european union ultimately pay for what it once said is a $1000000.00 new homes in this syrian reach area that turkey plans to take control ok stand by dorian because since turkey launched its offensive

jones is on the story for us a busy day a busy night dorian and so what is happening at the border now this is no longer just an operation of airstrikes is it. yeah that's right in fact to turkish defense ministry statement announced the ground operation had started said turkish forces had started to cross into syria into these towns that have been held by the syrian kurdish militia this follows hours of bombardment by took a shit tillery and supported by a turkish fighter bombers that have been pounding all along the syrian border as far as 3040 kilometers deep into this territory a sustained bombardment and this is a bunch of the much the way it's typical techies tactics from 2 previous operations of heavy bombardment the pave the way for the operation which is going expected to be a far more attracted a mole difficult leg of the operation given the fact that some of this fight is expected to be in heavily densely populated towns and this will race a specter of a high and growing number of civilian casualties which we already appear to have a code already in dorian with the u.s. secu

is dorian jones on the story for us tonight it is dorian thank you well as we heard the united states said all of this in motion on sunday with president donald trump's shock announcement that u.s. troops are pulling out of northern syria and leaving the kurds to fend for themselves the move was slammed by both democrats and republicans the president kept pushing back until today the white house releasing this statement on the turkish offensive the united states does not endorse this attack and has made it clear to turkey that this operation is a bad idea turkey has committed to protecting civilians protecting religious minorities including christians and ensuring no humanitarian crisis takes place and we will hold them to this commitment. well the assurances of the trump white house don't mean much tonight to the kurds in northern syria the security umbrella provided by u.s. forces has been removed the kurds are now bracing for an assault by the turkish military i spoke tonight with keno gabriele spokesman for the syria democratic forces that's the military arm of the kurds and i ask

all right let's go to turkey now waiting correspondent dorian jones is standing by for us to tell us more about this turkish military operation. well the ground phrase of the operation has started according to a statement from the turkish ministry that was after a sustained day of bombardment by turkish fighter bombers and turkish should tillery that hit a whole variety of of towns and settlements all across the syrian border of this syrian port on the syrian kurdish region all the main towns are believed to have been hit by strikes as well as targets of belonging to the syrian kurdish militia we also according to a statement released by turkey's defense ministry said $141.00 targets have been hit and underlines the scale of the operation that is unfolding it had been expected be far more limited at least in the early stages but this indicates that the turkish government all keen to get on with this operation. and underlines how large an operation this is going to be absolutely does indeed seem far more expansive than rapids than many observers had at the haps though and with that wh

jones with the latest tonight from istanbul dorian as always thank you earlier i spoke with. he's the spokesman for the us the kurdish forces in syria and i asked him what he and his people are experiencing now. we'll there is little slow. chaos and i think there is not fear specially in the areas that have been. tried and shared by the turkish army during the last few hours we have several casualties several kid and others wounded mostly from the civilian population and. i think that created a lot of fear among the people about the gain in other areas little bit far from the border. the life continues as it was and there are a lot of people who are trying to support those in the border cities and towns and everyone is trying to work everything together in order to pass this period of time of peace. that we are facing now. tell me if you can't you know these airstrikes that are coming from turkey what are they targeting i mean what is being hit. we really don't know what what they are trying to target but mostly they are targeting civilian populated. mostly neighborhoods in t

or listing the story down to turkey to be correspondent dorian jones joins me now from istanbul good evening to you dorian the turkish military operation it has now gone from just an air assault to a ground assault what do we know i mean troops forces have actually crossed the border now right well that's right the turkish defense ministry in a statement has said that the ground operation has begun saying soldiers have crossed across the syrian border into these towns help.

to you dorian the turkish military operation it has now gone from just an air of assault to a ground assault what do we know i mean troops and forces have actually crossed the border now right. well that's right the turkish defense ministry in a statement has said that the ground operation has begun saying soldiers have crossed across the syrian border into these towns held by the syrian kurdish militia this follows of bombardment by turkish jets and turkish artillery pounding . syrian militia and bases. possibly to the turkish military expediting this operation into previous operations in the past couple of years the . last had full days even one case a couple of weeks this that indicates that. these operations ground operations this could be costly and reaction to the growing backlash in washington you just heard the u.s. president donald trump again threatening to destroy turkey's economy if he if they go too far against the cuts so there is a realization that he need to get on with the top aeration with the ground forces on the ground this spring tempo in the operation and withou

evening to you dorian what kind of operation are we looking at here dorian we just saw in that tweet from richard high end of one the goal here is to neutralize terrorist threats but is he talking about the terrorists being the kurds or is he talking about the terrorists being the isis prisoners that are in the area. well if you speak to touch officials they'll say it's both but let's be clear the primary object of this operation is to drive back the syrian kurdish militia that has been on turkey's border for several years. except that this group is a terrorist organization linked to a kurdish insurgency in the site turkey and they say that they have been committed to removing this threat from it and it will point to the fact that it has getting support from the international community saying that they are respecting turkey's right to protect its borders now this operation is going to be a major operation this is being in the planning for months he plans to create a 30 kilometer deep. safe zone as president calls it and it's going to be several 100 kilometers along syria's border a m

correspondent dorian jones is standing by in istanbul good evening to you dorian what kind of operation are we looking at here dorian we just saw in that tweet from rich a thai air to one the goal here is to neutralize terrorist threats but is he talking about the terrorists being the kurds or is he talking about the terrorists being the isis prisoners that are in the area. speak to touch officials they'll say it's both but let's be clear the primary objective of this operation is to drive back the syrian kurdish militia that has been on turkey's border for several years has said that this group is a terrorist organization linked to a kurdish insurgency site turkey and they say that they have been committed to removing this threat from it and it will point to the fact that it has getting support from the international community saying that they are respecting turkey's right to protect its borders now this operation is going to be a major operation this is been in the planning for months turkey plans to create a 30 kilometer deep. safe zone as president calls it and it's going to be seve

straight to turkey that day w correspondent dorian jones joins us from istanbul welcome dorian as a tell us more about the turkish military operation. well there has been this ongoing bombardment from the air within hours of the announcement of the operation jets have been relentlessly pounding towns across the syrian border here at least 4 possibly 5 towns have been struck took issue tillery 2 have been bombarding the area along with mortar fire there have been some reports that the syrian kurdish forces have retaliated using small fire and mortars attacking nearby turkish border towns and this is just the very beginning of what is seen the turkish forces are laying the ground for a major ground offensive possibly they can start at night in the early hours of the morning part of a very major operation that turkey has been planning for many months i what are you hearing from northern syria. well it's very difficult to get a real report from what's happening but we do understand that from statements released by the syrian kurdish forces if the scribed major panic in town centers with the

joining me now is our correspondents dorian jones in istanbul and here in berlin our chief political correspondent melinda during me i'll start with you know what happened to this refugee day why is it not working. well this all started when the turkish president may have type long gave a warning that he's ready to open his borders to europe if they do not address turkey's refugee concerns why tokyo is now warning about these fears it is ready for another massive influx of refugees into turkey from the syrian province of idlib which is the last rebel anglais and could well fall to syrian forces in the coming weeks possibly months turkey says it cannot take any more refugees it needs europe to join in working together to resolve this this is tokyo issuing a law the whole of europe on these refugees going to greece is seen as part of the warning and we don't want to germany and the e.u. offering to get it once again behind this refugee agreement that they made with the country between the lines the money that's not what the german interior minister is saying in so many words but if you

a hole for there some very insult or in words for turkey let's bring in our correspondent istanbul dorian jones story and what happened 1st off to the e.u. kerr turkey refugee deal why is it not working. well i mean well there is that we have seen this increase in the number of refugees entering greece from turkey it's not at the levels that preceded the refugee. deal but it is causing concern that this deal could be starting to break down because it comes at a time when the turkish president right jeff type one is warning he will open his borders to europe if he does not receive help over refugees and why he made that warning is that turkey could be facing another massive influx of syrian refugees because the last rebel enclave in which borders turkey could be set to be falling to regime forces if that was to happen turkey could be seeing a 1000000 maybe more refugees coming into turkey turkey is were ringing the alarm bell saying we cannot take any more it needs help ok well germany is hearing the alarm bell europe is to what could germany and the e.u. be offering today to to get turkey