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

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

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

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

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 shocked 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 the 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 syrian democratic forces that's the military arm of the kurds and i ask

jones is on the story for us a busy day of 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 to fish defense ministry statement announced their ground operation had started said turkish forces has 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 bunch of much the way it's typical turkish tactics from 2 previous operations of heavy bombardment that paved the way for the land operation which is going expected to be a far more attracted a more 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 raise the specter of all high and growing numbers of civilian casualties which we already appeared to have occurred already in dorian with

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

rather going jones on the story tonight in stamboul dorian thank you. here's some of the other stories now that are making headlines around the world in britain a 30 year old man has been jailed for a minimum of 15 years for attempted murder in august. deliberately drove his car into pedestrians and cyclists and police officers in central london in an attempt to imitate previous terror attacks 7 people were injured in that it's happened one person has died and 4 people have been injured during protests in guinea's capital opposition parties and activists are trying to trying to block but to changes to the country's constitution which could allow the president to run for a 3rd term in office a new political star has emerged in budapest following sunday's main aural election center left opposition party leader garry again. with his call for closer ties between hungary and brussels is the 1st electoral setback for nationalist prime minister viktor orbán since he came to power back in 2010. in spain a judge has issued an international arrest warrant for th

correspondent dorian jones he is in istanbul and oliver salat is on the story for us from washington to both of you good evening oliver let me start with you u.s. president donald trump is describing the agreement the truce that we're seeing between russia and turkey as a major breakthrough made possible by his policy in syria is that true. well that was a very typical a donald trump move essentially what we've been seeing here today is something we've seen before many many times president trump to clear victory on a crisis that he created in the 1st place and let's just remember how this all unfolded there was a phone call between president wretch of type every one of turkey and president trump and as a result of that phone call president trump decided to pull out the u.s. troops of syria that created a power vacuum in syria and essentially and eventually lead it to a deal splitting of syria between russia and turkey and they the outcome of that is that russia became stronger assad became stronger putin became stronger. a lot of course as well and even i since my research in the fut