so the subject to track down each guy who i'd met and photographed those years ago i don't know that but we are. syrian government forces with russian support retake a key fortified area held by islamic state in the city of did paving the way for its liberation comes following the lifting of the terror group's three year long sea which. also a new u.n. report accuses the syrian government of using chemical weapons against civilians in italy province back in april. and the russian foreign ministry says it's. in san francisco being searched as a diplomatic spat between the countries since. good

afternoon it's just turned four o'clock here in moscow watching r.t. international syrian government forces backed by russia have recaptured a large fortified area held by islamic state in the city of did is all that's according to the russian defense ministry. well after retaking the position syrian troops found a network of tunnels containing weapons medical supplies and also food it's also

emerged that the area was mainly defended by terrorists from the former soviet republics and also russia on tuesday a russian warship targeted the militants there helping the syrian army storm the fortress. that i just operation is part of a larger campaign to totally force eisel fighters out of did is to or which has largely been occupied by the terror group for the last three years since then it has become one of the largest pockets of extremist forces in syria. you are. with all these pictures here of two government army brigades reuniting after the sea on the city was finally lifted one had been trapped inside that time into trying as more now on the liberation campaign. the people of duress or won't have to pray for these to appear in the skies anymore for

three years air drops with their only lifeline and they prayed for what was really just a handful of syrian soldiers to never let the city fall completely to islamic state while i salute used any means absolutely anything to take their resort it's all over now but nearly nine months ago a sea of eisel all around the city and beyond how the country and black as you can see on this map since that point it's only been shrinking two thousand and seventeen so far a nightmare for islamic state in syria i'll break down the milestones for you number one palmira. the city with more than three thousand years of history had really been caught in a tug of war before march when the syrian army with russian air support took full

control number two the city of rock the one known as the capital of the self-proclaimed caliphate. no more capital in iraq looks like the terrorist commanders ran from there and thanks to the efforts of the kurdish units and other u.s. led coalition fighters the hottest in the city are fully surrounded number three breaking the siege of the errors or. this was one last chance all the remaining war might be had to offer off it went to dare resort according to russian army intelligence crossing islamic state in this

area is the next step time to check up on the map now that's progress three black traces left the rooms of the self-proclaimed caliphate. ok well let's talk further about this with jonathan steele he's an international affairs commentator good afternoon t. jonathan thanks for coming on to r.t. let's just start shall we with what the u.n. special envoy for syria has said he said he's concerned what will happen next after the government victory or imminent victory india is or let's just listen jonathan to what he said. the issue with is the government after the liberation of their iraq really being employed to generally negotiate in not. victory which we all know they know to cannot be an island because they want be sustainable without a political process really the opposition be able to be unified and realistic

enough to realize if they did not win that war. he said a few things that. the key point was he's worried this victory will just cement a sense of power and that we know political change is that's a valid concern. which is a concern but i think as he was hinting the government forces backed by the russians. getting the upper hand gradually off to five years of war and the rebels are really on the back for tonight i mean not just. the norm is the mystical message in the midst rebels part more of the western part of the country he also mentioned didn't he that he thought that perhaps opposition forces wouldn't necessarily stop fighting is there a suggestion or a concern to you that despite this big picture india is still it could still be problems in terrorism or fighting at least in syria for some time to come. or

definitely i mean the war is long way from being over i mean the isis fighters particularly one so far and will gradually if they've not been captured filter back to their home countries and of course they may start doing terrorist activities in places like britain where we've had three days of summer in barcelona or in berlin or in france so the threat to western countries is still very much alive the isis is losing territory in syria it's not losing all its manpower. so where do you see the future of syria now then because obviously. when we see events in syria it looks like the defeat of is imminent. but in terms of finding pace price this is just the country have to go three g. think. well there are two different tracks one is food trucks the story from the u.n. is trying to organize getting these sort of bigger opposition groups who are mainly

foreign funded to come to the table and unify and make. some sort of power sharing deal with the government in damascus it's not at all clear that the government in damascus really wants to share power but the other track is various local cease fires that are being brokered all over the country in different places where rebels . surrender and give up and leave the area and people can come home who fled the internally displaced people or those who've gone as refugees abroad or in other places rebels who are allowed to remain in their home towns and villages very give up attacking government forces and the government army doesn't go in and try and destroy them sort of the kind of murderous preventing the operates in different parts of the country so that's you know where the more hopeful because it does bring peace more quickly than these big talks in a star or in geneva bridge really don't change very much on the ground. is there

are concerned see that there shouldn't be elections to say that because a former ambassador to syria said that could cause a lot of problems. for a long way from really being able to have elections elections following from an agreement on a mission marred cease fire and some kind of power sharing coalition which will be in charge while the elections are held so there's the two major steps to have to be agreed to one cease fire to convolution government before we can get to elections it's too premature to talk of elections. will leave it there but it's always good to talk to you that was jonathan steele international affairs commentator thank you . now a report out today from the u.n. accuses the syrian government of using chemical weapons against civilians and also blames it for a sarin gas attack in a pretty neatly province. has more. the united nations syria commission has issued

a report in which it found that there was a chemical attack that was carried out back in april in and that those responsible were government forces using sarin gas against the civilian population they based their contributions first and foremost on interviews with eyewitnesses victims and medical workers they also used videos and photographs but what is important is that the investigators themselves did not travel to the scene of this attack and not at the investigators of a previous report that was conducted by the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons the o.p.c. w and the findings of the o.p.c. w. report also used by the u.n. commission as of this time around but what is also important here is that the o.p.c. w. reported not assign blame it really was investigating whether or not this attack took place so what this means is that the question of who is to blame who is

responsible is still open now the united nations report to not only focus on this alleged chemical strike it also looked at the question of civilian casualties due to the coalition air strikes in syria and what is not clear is why they mixed these two topics together particularly because the coalition civilian deaths constitute an important part of the report and they are based on solid evidence not least because that evidence is coming from the coalition forces themselves they have a detailed look at civil cases that are confirmed by the coalition forces and you have the coalition as meting to killing more than six hundred civilians although activists say that that number goes into the thousands now a huge chunk of those you report is devoted to this question of civilian deaths caused by the coalition forces and only right at the end of the report. is there

mention about this chemical attack and yet despite this on twitter the united nations has called those a report into the use of chemical weapons in high shy couldn't and not a report into civilian casualties that were caused by the coalition forces in syria . ok let's get the thoughts now of political commentators with this good afternoon what do you make of this latest report. well i think this is just the last or the last there are you in the hands of the west specially the u.s. u.k. and you friends who were against the syrian government the syrian army from the beginning of the crisis but if you want to talk about the report the actual information that we're given by the report if you go back to april two thousand and seven just after country when we had a professor and the actual expert on chemical attacks an mit professor called to your door stall who actually managed to. look at the video and the photos that were

sent. and just by looking at those photos he said he literally said this attack could not have happened and he presented evidence given the fact that the people were not dressed well for any serene poisoning after especially after the attack you presented evidence concerning the people who were there without any globes without any even shoes in there and their feet but yet again if you. own up until now you see what happened with the new report from the u.n. it is a typical identical to the u.s. report that was given and the worst by the white house by the. american government itself with a senior u.s. administrator of official saying that actually saying that knowledge in that their information comes from social media reports mind you that's the same social media that gave us the fake man can challenge and live so these social media reports they are based on this is the information based upon. the decisions made by the us

report and therefore the reports made by the un and even those u.s. officials back then said that the story actually fits what they think happened all of this so that i'm mentioning right now is just because of one fact the fact that there was no one destination there was no inspectors that actually went to hardship one and inspect the area to see if there was a syrian attack or not if it's actually air dropped or not or if it was some sort of another chemical attack by a certain group within the area another criticism of this report is that it was meant to be an inquiry into the civil war in syria but it seems generally to focus on the alleged chemical attacks by the assad forces. well it is actually especially if you look at how the events have been going over the past four months especially to what happened yesterday with the liberation of there is or despite the fact that there are still skirmishes within there is or before it's full there are great and i think it's going to happen within this week

but it is it is at a very important timing at this at a time when this german government along with its allies is eradicating isis a completely from the syrian soil and maybe focusing more on other al qaeda groups in the future so it is a very important timing and at the same time it's very important to the timing of next week's talks in astana especially with the latest statements coming from staff on them as to what himself acknowledging the fact that the opposition did not actually lost the war and that telling them that they should acknowledge this so this was the last straw for them to try and use against the syrian government to try and label them as either monsters or in their and war criminals at a time when syria the syrian arab army is liberating and eradicating terrorism from its soil that was actually helped supported funded by the same western governments that are endorsing this u.n. report if i may remind you of what happened during conscious when and the images that we saw by the images themselves they actually just shouts. out that the people

that were found in those videos and photos they were either extremely ignorant about the basic measures to be taken by an individual to protect themselves from any exposure to so the boys and or they basically knew that there was no contamination to begin with so how about what and against a question that we need to also to ask why didn't you once send any inspectors despite the fact that both the syrian government and its biggest ally the russian government demanded an inspector an investigation and the spectre's to come down to honshu since they are already friends with al qaeda and to come down to conscious one and trying to investigate what happened and a number of facts here back in two thousand and thirteen didn't russia take from the syrian government all the chemical weapons that were supposedly in the warehouses so how come now the syrian government has weapons that can be air dropped air dropped we're talking about air dropping serine gas on a space on the location that supposedly killed eighty eight if that actually

happened you can ask real experts about surreal attacks or chemical attacks if that was airdropped by the syrian government who would have seen thousands of deaths in the streets but we saw bodies of women and children who were these women who were as these children we don't know and we just saw a couple of bodies we didn't see eighty eight bodies i'm sorry to speak this way but these artifacts we saw bodies in a certain area we don't know who they belong to other than that all the thousands of deaths that the u.n. report is talking about they talk they are talking about thirty three attacks twenty seven of which are by the syrian government i'd like to debunk this hypothesis is that they are working with by saying one of them they are saying only twenty seven they're saying twenty seven by the government and the others by unknown groups one of these attacks is not by the syrian government and how can they prove that the others were actually by the syrian government no investigation no real info this is a farce report. we've got to leave it to get you through political commentator thank you. now

a new round of searches meanwhile is being conducted by u.s. authorities in a vacated russian consulate in san francisco that comes from russia's foreign ministry's facebook page it also posted a video of men at the building ripping up the wooden flooring statement also says they don't know who are the who the people are exactly with more his medina corps general. searches and the building up of former russian general consulates in san francisco continue and they are reportedly conducted by identify two men who are vandalizing the place while the building still owned by russia however it is no longer operating as a consulate now the russian foreign ministry has posted videos obv these searches and the russian diplomatic properties are both in san francisco and washington and the ministries sad that the video is published is avodah legal actions of the us authorities and it also sas that the so called examination of the russian

diplomatic property constitutes as a violation of the international law and the ministry called it an invasion now the latest ministry suppost on its facebook page says that the us security services conduct unknown works on the territory of the consulates now they have damaged expansive property and they do work without permission it was also notice that the us representatives behave like it as some sort of a raid attack this is the latest development after initials began last week on saturday when the russian diplomatic staff was given some thirty six hours warning to leave the premises for these searches to be conducted the russian president vladimir putin called to these searches on lawful suggesting to go to court over this he also added that russia still reserves the right to send

out more u.s. diplomats working here and russia up to one hundred fifty five diplomats now this latest route between the two countries has been happening and the past few months russia says that it was not started by moscow but the u.s. administration both sides continued to say that they want to establish good relations but given the latest unprecedented circumstances it is unclear whether it is still possible. still ahead president putin has weighed in on high to tackle the crisis on the korean peninsula stay with us for that story because of his take off to the right. dropping bombs brings peace to the chicken hawks forcing you to fight the battle. to stop spreading tell you that what we gossip the public but little they.

tell you on the cool enough to buy their products. the hawks we. will watch. what politicians do you show up to. put themselves on the line they get accepted or rejected. so when you want to be president. or some want to be. too great to be this is what. three of the people. interested in the war. they should.

pull out again now the russian president says the sanctions are mounting pressure will not solve the north korea crisis fields it is being backed into a corner that imitate and made the comments after speaking with south korea's leader at the eastern economic forum in the russian city of from there his new hawkins is foremost primarily a place for business and trade interests to find common ground but as you say there's only been one thing really hanging over the forum one key thing on the agenda and that's been the korean crisis the crisis on the korean peninsula and president putin of south korea half an hour concluded the talks they've done a joint press conference with putin a game as russia's position has been over the last weeks and months that diplomacy negotiation was the only way long to solve this crisis take a listen but it's obvious that the korean peninsula problem can't just be solved

using sanctions and pressure it's impossible let's not be driven by emotion and push north korea into a corner. now it's evident that there are some differences between the south korean and the russian position here the south korean go. because you favor a strengthening of u.n. sanctions against north korea particularly targeting the oil sector something that will very much as an escalation in this crisis the russians of course how favored diplomacy negotiation long term and that still seems to be the case aside from that it's very much business as usual here for quite literally there's delegations here from over fifty countries several thousand people in attendance here hoping to sign trade and business deals last year that equal about thirty two billion dollars so very much significance in the asia pacific region but also at the forum is the governor of the u.s. state of california and he says that north korea does pose a great risk to global security and that dialogue is needed north korea of course

is a threat nobody can ignore this thing is moving quickly with north korea. i didn't feel there was any real clear path forward but i do know this. free exchange between russia and china in other countries in the region are absolutely crucial in wiser minds i hope will. be able to move north korea off this very dangerous path that they're on. washington said meanwhile it will continue to deploy troops and weapons to the korean peninsula one top u.s. army official says that's to address pyongyang self destructive actions america's deployment hardware includes aircraft carrier strike group anti missile ships as well as fighter jets and helicopters and washington and seoul are reportedly preparing to hold more military drills south korea may also ask the u.s.

to redeploy its nuclear weapons to the pin insurers. now reports. south korea is currently eyeing a possible redeployment of u.s. nuclear weapons on its territory which if approved would bring the military buildup around north korea to the highest level. we would need to find realistic countermeasures by reviewing all the political military options in the serious security situation with north korea's nuclear and missile threats but the question is will this drastic move have the desired effect of making north korea back down well if the past few months have taught us anything no but he and yang and washington are nowhere near to dialing their saber rattling back only raising the stakes higher and higher kim jong un shows no such understanding his abusive use of missiles and his nuclear threats show that he is begging for war any threat to the united states or to territories including. or our allies will be met with

a massive military response. president reaffirmed the commitment of the united states to defending our homeland territories and allies using the full range of diplomatic conventional and you can you capabilities so disposable so as a nuclear option the next step would trump make that call looking back trump has always had a rather shall we say unconventional approach to nuclear weapons during his iconic one thousand nine hundred interviews with playboy he confessed nuclear war was on his mind and it seems the idea hasn't exactly gone away first of all you don't want to say take everything off the table just you know better go shoot or if you do this nuclear look nuclear should be off the table but with be a time when it could be used possibly the trouble is when you said earlier even america's oldest allies can't count themselves one hundred percent safe can you tell the middle east or not use the nuclear weapon and never say that i would never take any of my cards off the table but europe we won't use and you're not going to take it off the day you might use it in europe you know unsurprisingly trump wants

the u.s. to expand its nuclear arsenal because apparently if you're going to have nukes you better have more than everybody else it would be wonderful the green would be that no country would have no. but if countries are going to have nukes we're going to be. at the top of the pack yes for every major world leader at the option is always on the table and to be fair trump has said that it's highly highly highly highly unlikely he would resort to a nuclear option and prefers a world without nukes but even if it's just about scaring the enemy when nukes are dominating the thought processes of kim and trump the rest of the world would appreciate more predictability and transparency in the thought process. r.t. washington d.c. well russia and china did offer their solution to the standoff over north korea at an emergency u.n. security council meeting on monday moscow and beijing proposed what is being called a double freeze initiative and under the plan north korea would stop its nuclear ballistic missile tests and then return the u.s. and south korea would hold their joint military exercises however the u.s.

dismissed the proposal as insulting but we spoke exclusively with russia's new ambassador to washington and he told us willpower is do need to work together to resolve the crisis. i cannot he would mention in north korea it's a great chilling for us for united states we have to secure the n.p.t. nonproliferation treaty and please don't forget the united states its too far from moscow to. moscow he is a one neighbor frankly i can see a new problem. to deal with all outstanding issues with the united states. may be the front runner in the german election but she's been met by an angry crowd on the latest stop of her campaign trail peter oliver has that. it is fair to say that this is be a fairly tepid election campaign in germany even by the well relatively low bar set

by german elections in the past moments of drama how of combe courtesy of those right wing political activists who've been turning up at angela merkel's campaign rallies now these people who are on the whole fundamentally opposed to angela merkel's refugee policy or they've been turning up booing and blowing whistles events that she's traveled around the country the latest happened in heidelberg in the south of the country well this time there was an added age as two tomatoes were throwing her cool took the stage one of them clipping the german chancellor on the hip another one of them though splattering one of the moderate is in fact offered her a handkerchief to clean herself up during the debate though during the rally she was asked a question about what does she think her best qualities are and she pretty much said cardless under pressure noticeably making reference to the flying fruit that occurred earlier and fuck time to america was so unfazed by the to my.