a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. and it. started . to cross talk the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein abdul hussein he is the washington bureau chief of the kuwaiti newspaper all right and in paris we cross to tell me he is the editor in chief and co-founder of arab thank dot com all right gentlemen this is crossfire that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's look at the arab league and syria. for decades now the arab league has had a shaky reputation often being dismissed as ineffective and only to the interest of its autocratic regimes but with the onset of the arab spring it has managed to come to the forefront as a regional mediator

is economic the biggest game in the world and syria. not the syria. you can't make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop perhaps even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. and our people are subject to the result. only if the soldiers we have all have enough but i think we want to leave. in less than three months. libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers shipley residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on the gentle an enemy willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're already drawing the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya repeat itself in syria. the portraits of shaky vajra are now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli be some rebels even styling themselves to r

and sticking with our top story in syria as r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and sharing his firsthand impressions of what's really happening there stay with us. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening here inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the area thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation could begin we've seen groups inside become. making big problems. it's the border. and various people. recruit some of them to to make bigger fighting groups and no way of entering in coordination with the political opposition. in this country a very. long history of the position between the party and the muslim brotherhood so no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why these groups come in go quite everywhere because they have some support and inside the population b

a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative. of the official t. application. called touch from the. video . calls an r.s.s. feeds with the palm of your. questions. sometimes you see a story and it seems so you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else you hear or see some other part of it and realize that everything you thought you knew you don't know. welcome to the big picture. he. says. i asked. you you. if . hello and welcome to cross talk i'm peter lavelle an old organization finding a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. to cross talk the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein ab

a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. to cross not the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein abdul hussein he is the washington bureau chief of the kuwaiti newspaper all right and in paris we cross to tell me he is the editor in chief and co-founder of arab thank dot com all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's look at the arab league and syria. for decades now the arab league has had a shaky reputation often being dismissed as ineffective and tending only to the interests of its autocratic regimes but with the onset of the arab spring it has managed to come to the forefront as a regional mediator calling t

chavez it is economically if we give him enough in the world that syria. other syria. you can make it a lot of people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop perhaps even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want the syria and its soldiers we have. and our people are subject to the result just like only this subject we have only we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who's on the channeling enemy willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what if we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of all our we will make sure that what happened in libya repeat itself in syria the libyan model with the portraits of shaky borrow now ubiquitous on the streets of

a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. to. cross talk the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein abdul hussein he is the washington bureau chief of the kuwaiti newspaper all right and in paris we cross to tell me he is the editor in chief and co-founder of arab thank dot com all right gentlemen this is crossfire that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's look at the arab league and syria. for decades now the arab league has had a shaky reputation often being dismissed as ineffective and only to the interest of its autocratic regimes but with the onset of the arab spring it has managed to come to the forefront as a regional mediator calling the shot

a new mission this is how the arab league is being described by some particularly when it comes to syria others are not so appreciative for them the arab league is very selective when it comes to sanctions and its own members and those hostile to the arab league call it a tool of western powers. to cross not the arab league i'm joined by monzer slain in washington he is director of the center for american arab studies and a national security affairs analyst also in washington we have hussein abdul hussein he is the washington bureau chief of the kuwaiti newspaper all right and in paris we cross to tell me he is the editor in chief and co-founder of arab thank dot com all right gentlemen this is crosstalk that means you can jump in anytime you want and i very much encourage it but first let's look at the arab league and syria. for decades now the arab league has had a shaky reputation often being dismissed as ineffective and only to the interest of its autocratic regimes but with the onset of the arab spring it has managed to come to the forefront as a regional mediator calling the shots

tell us it is economic the biggest game in the in the world not the syria. other syria. you get we get a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want in syria and its soldiers we have a and our people are subject to the result just wanted only a few soldiers we have gone we have enough but i think we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to be called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of these young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves

>> outside syria? no. >> reporter: syria's uprising began in march, after fellow arab nations, tunisia and egypt, had thrown out their dictators and as the world moved against libyan deictator moammar gadhaf. you've seen the pictures of mubarak in jail. pictures of, in libya, of moammar gadhafi, killed. are you afraid that you might be next? >> no, i'm afraid that the people won't support me. syrian people. >> reporter: that they won't support you? >> they support me. i mean, the only thing you could be afraid of, to lose the support of your people. that's the only thing you should be afraid of. >> reporter: do you feel now that you still have the support of your people? >> if you don't have the support of the people, you cannot be in this position. syria, it's not easy. very difficult country to govern if you don't have the public support. >> reporter: you feel the majority of the people in this country support you? >> the majority are in the middle. and the majority are not against. to be precise. >>

and sticking with our top story in syria as r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and sharing his firsthand impressions of what's really happening there stay with us. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening here inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the erema sun thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation are big in we've some groups entering inside the country. making big problems trying to create islamic emirates one of the border first in jordan and various people. some of those two to me who began fighting groups and. called the nation with political opposition. to this country a very. long history of position between sparty in boost the brotherhood saw no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why these groups come in. because we have some support now inside th

syrian army but not syria but you know in sting libya for supporting the street it was only in syria and the care because there was. an old contentious between syria and tripoli tonight it was this country was created artificially very late so you don't have such a thing in syria and so you have the only way to divide the people is to use the confession of war so we try to do that now. below it's. sunnis and of course more so to. christian jews and so on but to have a main fight they want to create this between and i would send signals last competition a war in the syria. hundred sixty years ago so it's difficult to prevent how do you see the situation progressing now first. i think that all be reaction to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of problems a lot of people killed but this is not a civil war great way to organize if they want to enter with foreign troops inside like be doing libya or using proxy from the gulf council i think they will. very probably because based country israel will battle glorious countries leaving since sixty years in the middle east wh

syria is able to resist very long time to be. pressured from the top do you think the president is that they now has the capability the capacity to remain in power of course and. the problem is that the people who try to destabilize assad. stronger are sort of the that they are creating the meat they have already. they will have. said at the beginning of a wrong evolution of the program they think it would be very simple walk to the grave . if. conversational civil war but they make a mistake a very great. we've dealt a number of off we put didn't in libya when they created this leak in your eight mainly because he became very thinly behind in syria. they have a lot of weapons from the beginning because they seized from the army not to leave in the same smuggling underworld you know but they have very big stocks so very can have a basis to extend the civil war in the country but here they think that and after that they used to the people way of sent going from one told to another creating problem for one tone to another but not a

syrian army but not syria but you know in steam libya for supporting the street it was only in syria and the care because there was . an old contentious between syria and. its whose country was created artificially very late so you don't have such a thing in syria and so you have the only way to divide the people is to use the confession of war so we try to do that now. below it's. so nice and of course of course to. christian jews and so but to have a main fight there you want to create this between i would sense of who last competition a war in the syria. hundred sixty years ago so it's difficult to prevent how do you see the situation progressing now first. i think that all be reaction to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of problems a lot of people killed but this is not a civil war great way to organize if they want to enter with foreign troops inside like the do in libya or using a proxy from the gulf council i think they will. very probably because based countries really full bottle glorious countries leaving since sixty years in the middle east who is that

are turning next to syria as r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and shares his firsthand impressions on what's really going on there. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the erema sun thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation begin we've seen groups inside the comfy. making big problems. to quit. rate's the border. and various people. recruits some of us to to make bigger fighting groups and no way of entering in coordination with the political opposition to this country very. long history of the position between the party in the muslim brotherhood so no reason that i didn't speak tween with. brothers and with. groups coming from abroad so that's why it is groups come in go quite everywhere because b. of some support and inside. the populati

country's assaulted by airport security proclaimed the instant could be linked to moscow's position on syria. will stay with that story to international pressure mounts on syria artes of abene talks to one of britain's foremost journalists next jonathan steele of the guardian newspaper to get his thoughts on possible solutions for the country's political crisis right now . i'm joined by jonathan steele former chief correspondent of the guardian newspaper and now a commentator on international affairs jonathan thanks for speaking to r.t. europe now the u.k. recently been approached by the king of jordan to spearhead a diplomatic offensive against assad william hague the foreign secretary is now met with opposition leaders is this the preamble to another libyan start intervention. it could be i mean we can't be sure and i think it's dangerous it might be i mean they're trying to be hague's message to the opposition is to get your act together unite on a common platform in other words to turn yourself much more like the libyan opposition who the government also talked to and then eventually rec

tell us it is economic the biggest game in the end the one that syria. love and syria. you can't make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want in syria and it's all just we have a and of people such as syria it is i just want to know only if it's all just we have only we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what if we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria the libyan man or the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the str

central bank of syria, commercial bank of syria, other financial institutions, government officials, other individuals involved in repression, governmental entities and non-governmental entities. these are the general categories of things to target. in those seven categories over time, the united states is seven for seven. the european union is 6% including including the most significant of the sanctions which is to cut off of imports of the syrian oil. the arab league, if it goes through with sanctions will at this stage b347. turkey will be three for seven. so i think in the future much of our efforts will be working with turkey and with the arab league to see if additional work can be done in that area. but it is having an impact, but i hasten to add the impact of sanctions is dwarfed by the impact of assad driving the economy straight off the cliff through his policies. >> the gentleman's time is expired. the gentleman from pennsylvania is recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman. i appreciate you being here and i thank you for your distinguished military service. when

another syria. you get we get a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they have very firm. where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. enough people such as syria it is all just bloody long if this soldier we have only we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave . in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of these young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. over the portraits of shady bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves to resemble the famous revolutionary

of syria our people to avoid the external signs of history beauties but to go. no one really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting arms militant groups sponsored from abroad meanwhile the opposition originally marked by its insistence on peaceful protests it's now been joined by growing numbers of army defectors and has become increasingly arms on the months quite downs by the government and this violence spreads its prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what. you have for instance. from somebody who is not. the government's. position the truth and do oppose and claims its is the government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an accusation you have to use two different movies to use the. don't have the. means to see who is more. to the truth of the arab league team will be attempting to cut through the rhetoric and discover his version of events is most accurate they many remain skeptical about how much they'll be able to achi

the city of homs in syria. and for more on this situation in syria i'm now joined live by international affairs commentator recross all of this talk nato organization a web based information campaign against the lines mr rose that think of so much for joining us now so western countries and says president assad is personally cracking down on peaceful protesters why is it that that nine months on the rest continues with reports suggesting the opposition is actually getting stronger. i am speaking to from chicago and not from either damascus so i don't claim to have time to be privy rather than cite information about what's happening internally in syria your reporters are doing a good job i think covering that aspect of the crisis my concern is more what is happening in the region in general and what internal developments which may not remain so starkly internal inside syria for time for the region and also the pattern of destabilization overthrows of the overthrow of governments throughout the arab world so far

of syria our people to avoid the external. festivities but to go. there one really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting militant groups sponsored from abroad the while the opposition regionally marked by its insistence on peaceful protests it's now been joined by growing numbers of army defectors and has become increasingly arms on the months quite downs by the government and this violence spreads its prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what. you have for instance. from somebody who is not. the government claims it is your position. and you oppose and claims the government. taxing killings it be met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an accusation you know we have to use two different movies to use the. don't have the. we don't turn as a means to see who is more. to the truth one of the yeah big team will be attempting to cut through the rhetoric and discover his version of events is most accurate they many remain skeptical about how much t

they are all of them inside syria and. spanish reporter was first in libya recognize them here in inside at the top of this so-called free syrian army but not syria but you know in sting libya for supporting the street it was only in syria and the care because there was . an old contentious between syria and tripoli tonight it was this country was created artificially very late so you don't have such a thing in syria and so you have the only way to divide the people is to use the contrition rule so we try to do that now. below it's. so nice and of course also to. christian jews and so on but if you mean fight there you want to create peace between and i would send signals who last competition a war in syria. hundred sixty years ago so it's difficult to prevent how do you see the situation progressing now first. i think that all be reaction to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of problems a lot of people killed but this is not a civil war great way to organize if they want to enter with foreign troops ins

they are all of them inside syria and the. spanish reporter was first in libya recognized them here in the inside of the top of beasts a so-called free syrian army but not syria but you know in steam libya for supporting the street it was only in syria in the car because there was. an old contentious between syrian care and tripoli tonight which was this country was created artificially very late so you don't have such a thing in syria and so you have the only way to divide the people is to use the confession of war so we try to do that now. below it's. so nice and of course more so to. christian jews and so but to have a main fight they want to create peace between i would since his last competition a war in the syria. hundred sixty years ago so it's difficult to prevent how do you see the situation progressing now first on the military level. i think that all be reaction to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of problems a lot of people killed but this is not a civil war great way to organize if they want to

returning to syria next as r.t. talks to a french journalist who's been reporting from the country throughout the conflict and shares now his firsthand impressions on what's really happening there. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening here inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the airiness sun thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us where your perceptions of the situation are big and we've some are my groups inside become three. making big problems. islamic emirates one of the border first in nevada. and various people. recruits some of them to to make bigger fighting groups and. call the nation with a political opposition to this country a very. long history of the position between the bass party and we mostly brotherhood so no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why these groups come in go quite everywhere because we have som

these are tertse terrorists aftr syria. it gives a bad start to the monitoring group to ham o happey with a bombing in d dasmascus. >> images and stories haveoccurs in syria with a tremendous loss of life. >> we a massacre in a smallvill. >> between 60 and 0 100 peoplewy surrounded the town and shelled the town. and apparently this was a village that was harbor being army defectors. and that seems to be what sparked the most horrific incident in this ten month old uprising. we have reports of two mass cures. one of a group of men who were defecting from the army. they were on their way to the turkish border and they were surrounded and this vil villagep in the mountainous part of syria near the border. r > we are beginning to seevide. the electricity if i ther the hn off and the phone comowncation has been down. and we did see videos in the last 24 hours bodies laid out in mosques there. men with name tags it looked like notebook paper taped on to their bodies. and the cell phone camera pans across dozens of bodies from thi

and turning back to syria now r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and shares his firsthand impressions on what's really going on. i. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the airing my son thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation could begin we've seen groups inside the country. making big problems. slim rates when the border first. and various people. recruit some of them to to make bigger fighting groups and no way up in three min coordination with the political opposition to this country very. long history of the position between the party in the brotherhood saw no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why this groups come in go quite everywhere because b. of some support and inside the population begin b

tell us it is economic if we get him enough in the world that syria. other syria. you can make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have a and are people subject to the ladies i just want to know only if this subject we have only we have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who lived on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. i don't know what we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. libya mother of the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of t

for more details on this developing situation in syria. thank i thank you for coming on the program today as we were just talking to our to you sara for thought for officially but from syria we're discussing the fact that official reports suggest al-qaeda could be connected to these latest pair of suicide bombings in the capital do you think it's proof the al qaeda terrorists are operating in the country as the assad government has said or could this just be a tactic that benefits one side either the side of assad's regime or the side of the opposition. well actually we are not sure yet who is responsible for the these attacks but whether that is proof or disproof al-qaeda is active in the country is another christian and is active already in sitting in for some time and may be and may be they are also responsible for d.c. attacks so when the us government is claiming that they are merely fighting an armed resistance from abroad. you have a point but that does not change the fact that there also is a popular uprising in the country now the

syrian army but not syria but you know in sting libya the support in the street was only in syria and the care because there was. an old contentious between syrian people it and i was whose country was created artificially very late so you don't have such a thing in syria and so you're the only way to divide the people is to use the contrition rule so we try to do that now. below it's. so nice and of course of course to. question losing so but if you mean fight there you want to create peace between and i would send signals last competition a war in syria. hundred sixty years ago so it's difficult to prevent how do you see the situation progressing now first on the military level. i think that all b. reaction to destabilize the country are not working we see a lot of problems a lot of people killed but this is not a civil war great way to organize if they want to enter with foreign troops inside like be doing libya or using proxy from the gulf council i think. the problem is based country israel will battle glorious countries leaving since sixty years in the released who is that will

turning back to syria now r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and shares his firsthand impressions on what's really going on. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening here inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the erema sun thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation are big in we've some groups entering inside the country. making big problems. to quit islamic emirates one of the border first in jordan. and various people. some of those who to me who began fighting groups and. coordination with the political opposition. to this come to a very. long history of position between sparty in boosted brotherhood saw no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why these groups come in. because we have some support now inside the population begin. for. subver

now, syria. popular uprisings fueled by new technology, coordinated using mobile phones, the internet, text messages, and tweets. these pictures captured last week from syria spread around the globe on the the world wide web. but now the very technologies that helped spark these revolutions are being used to brush them. >> technology can be every bit as lethal as the bullets from a munitions company. >> brighton beach on the sussex trust, an unlikely venue to host the hub of dissent. but the current syrian popular uprising is organized on an international scale. here in brighton beach, this man plays his part. >> the arab spring has turned into winter in syria. we have more than 20,000 people in prison. 4500 deboarded. people are struggling on a daily basis. >> he has no permanent address. he goes from place to place using friends' addresses. using their internet connections, laptops, and computers, fearful that he is being monitored by the syrian security services here on british soil. >> hello?

because he became routinely behind in syria. they have a lot of weapons from the beginning because bases we pull from the army and not believe in the same smuggling underworld you know but they are very big stocks so very can have a basis to extend the civil war in the country but here they think it and after that they used to the people way of sent going from one told to a creating problem for one told twelve but not able to destabilize all the country of the same time and i think you know it's too late they will fade thank you very much for joining us. mum. mum. mum. mum. mum. mum mum. the list explore areas. touched by money. surrounded by stupid. case paintings on display for thousands of years. beyond the time. the. download the official auntie application your phone on pod touch from the top story . life on the go. video on demand parties mine comes and says feed now in the palm of your. question on the dot com. are oblique observers head to syria's most turbulent city of homs to assess whether the government is keeping it

nowhere in this country whenever they beat news about syria would never be everything you suppose syria i would really pay attention and although everybody here say that they gots correct i don't think that's or got stopped as precise as i think it was so i'd like to think that because of my trip there and my experience there. that when i see something about syria i don't take it at face value i remembered everything that i had gathered and would look through it through that perspective rather than just what i see. test of syria every day right up to the new year we'll be bringing you more personal reflections from our correspondents who cover the biggest stories of the year you can also catch them as well on our website out com if you get a belated check out our website the stories to there right now know your rights the city of los angeles is pushing people detained in the occupy l.a. protest to take classes now about the first amendment and the proper way to exercise free speech somebody for interested also from us we've got live footage coming from straight from bethlehem there the.

are turning to syria as r.t. speaks with a french journalist reporting from the country throughout the conflict and shares his firsthand impressions on what's really going on there. as the conflict in syria continues it's been extremely hard to establish exactly what's been happening here inside the country we're joined now by independent journalist the erema sun thank you very much for joining us now you've been working on the ground here in syria can you tell us what your perceptions of the situation are big in we have some groups entering inside the country. making big problems trying to create islamic emirates one of the border first in jordan. and various people. some of them. to make big fighting groups and. coordination with the political opposition. to this come to a very. long history of position between. the brotherhood saw no reason that i didn't speak to in this. groups coming from abroad so that's why these groups come in. because we have some support and inside the population begin. for. subversion

syria is able to resist very long time to be. pressured from the top these think the president is that they now has the capability the capacity to remain in power of course and. the problem is that the people who try to destabilize assad. stronger are sort of the that they are creating the meat they have already. well they will have. but i said at the beginning where you have the wrong evolution of a program they think it would be very simple what the grade. of. the constitutional civil war but they make the mistake of a great peace. we dealt the number who we put in and in libya when they created this leaking rate. because he became very thinly behind in syria. they have a lot of weapons from the beginning because they seized from the army and not believe in the same smuggling underworld you know but they are very big stocks so very can have a basis to extend the civil war in the country but here they think it and after that they use the people way of sense going from one told to handle the creating problem for one told to anoth

syria is able to resist very long time to be. pressured from the top do you think the president is that they now has the capability the capacity to remain in power of course and. the problem is that the people who try to destabilize assad. stronger are sort of the that they are creating the meat they have already has some they will have. but i said at the beginning of a wrong evolution of the program they think it would be very simple what the grade b. c. would with the. conversational civil war but they make the mistake of a great. rate. we've dealt a number of off weep and didn't in libya when they created this leaking rate. because he became very thinly behind in syria. they have a lot of weapons from the beginning because bases we pull from the army not to leave in the same smuggling underworld you know but they have very big stocks so very can have a basis to extend the civil war in the country but here they think that and after that they used to the people way of sent going from one told to handle the creating problem for o

we begin tonight with syria and our keeping them honest. for months, we have witnessed the world has witnessed men, women, children, demonstrating the streets. initially they called for reforms. those calls were met with arrests, torture, killing, they began to call for the overthrow of the regime. there has been more bloodshed in syria, and sadly that's nothing new. what is new tonight is there's a team of observers from the arab league on the ground in syria. observers sent to verify that syria's president al assad is keeping his promises to remove military forces from streets, to stop violence from protesters. they've been on the ground about 48 hours. their initial statements are so far stunning. the chief monitor of this arab league observer force's sudanese commander. not only a commander but also the former head of foreign intelligence in the government of omar al bashir, a man wanted by the international criminal court for genocide in crimes against humanity. more on that in a moment. today, the head of the arab league team in syria

of syria our people to avoid the external signs of history beauties but to go. no one really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting militant groups sponsored from abroad meanwhile the opposition originally marked by its insistence on peaceful protest it's now been joined by growing numbers of army defectors and has become increasingly arms on the months of quite downs by the government and this violence spreads its prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what. you have. constructed from somebody who is not. the government claims it is a position. to oppose and claims the government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an accusation you know we have to use two different views on every t.v. we don't have. we don't turn as a means to see who is more. to the truth the arab league team will be attempting to cut through the rhetoric and discover his version of events is most accurate they many remain skeptical about how much they'll be

jealous of his economics if we give him enough in the way that the syria. love and syria. you can make it a lot of the people in syria. out of solidarity with their arab brothers the owners of the shop have even put on display the syrian rebels tricolor but they're very firm on where the revolutionary support should be and we don't want syria and its soldiers we have. and are people subject syria these are just life long if this soldier we have to have enough but i think yeah we want to leave. in less than three months libyan rebels have gone from being celebrated as liberators to being called occupiers tripoli residents rally almost every week calling on the armed militia to leave and for some of the young man who looked on adrenaline and willing to part with their rifles syria seems like the next logical destination. we're all ready to join the syrian revolution and with the help of allah we will make sure that what happened in libya will repeat itself in syria. over the portraits of shaky bar i now ubiquitous on the streets of tripoli some rebels even styling themselves

of course syria has quite good relations with iran. so they've decided i think that it's almost like a proxy war against iran if you can topple assad it's like it's considered to be a sort of proxy of blow against the government in iran so does the fear of iran really outweigh any concern in syria descending into civil war well i'm not even sure it's fear you know are they really afraid of iran i think it's more that they want to undermine the regime in iran and i think i think it's hostility to iran i would say rather than fear of because what is there to be afraid of with iran you know the only thing is this question of nuclear weapons which is still a long way down the line before iran would have a deliverable nuclear weapon it's first got to create the warheads on the weapons if it's building them and then it's got to have the delivery system that could transport these things safely and you know drop them. position and father at the right target which is some way off so there's no reason to be really afraid of iran and anyway there

of syria our people to. avoid the external. but to go. there when really feels like celebrating anyway when the country's hospitals are full of casualties the government claims it's fighting arms militant groups sponsored from abroad meanwhile the opposition originally marked by its insistence on peaceful protests it's now been joined by growing numbers of army defectors and has become increasingly arms are the months of quite downs by the government and this violence spreads its prevailing extremely hard to know exactly who is responsible for what. you have for instance. from somebody who is not. the government cleans it is it your position. and do you oppose and clean as a zoo government. taxing killings have been met repeatedly with claim counter-claim an accusation. you have to use two different views to use the. we don't turn means to see who is more. to the truth one of the arab league team will be attempting to cut through the rhetoric and discover his version of events is most accurate they many remain skeptical about how much the

export to syria. that could be handle. this is not a big impact. if it comes to be disrupted for any reason, that will have a huge impact on us. the tourism from lebanon, coming from our country, this kind of activity is not reduced and tremendously reduced. that will have an impact on the tourism activity we have with syria and arab countries. so we are feeling the heat. we are trying to see how we can -- ourself. lebanon has enough problem to have another one on its shoulder. >> the u.n. is suggesting that we're seeing crimes against humanity with the killings we've seen in syria right now. should the region stand by? should lebanon be standing by and watching that unfold in that way without taking action? >> sitting 10,000 kilometer away, 5,000 kilometer away it's easy to take, let's say, action or whatever it is. we are close, we are very close and whatever happen, it will have an impact. so let's be wise, let's be realistic, let's be pragmatic. >> could we see syria make an about-face here and al

next up, hearing looking and syria. over 5000 people have died in syria, including 300 children, as protests and violent clashes continued. the united nations human rights council says syria should be investigated by the international criminal court. >> the subcommittee will come to order. as has been well documented, the human rights being -- human rights violations being perpetrated in damascus are horrifying. we have documented some of the rest of calling him widespread human rights abuses witnessed in -- some of the of the most appalling and widespread human rights abuses witnessed in the past decade. abuse, murder, sexual violence, torture, and the abuse and murder of children. witnesses report the torture, abuse and rape of children no more than 15. one military defector stated that he decided to defect after witnessing the shooting of a 2- year-old girl by an officer who affirmed that he did not want her to grow into a demonstrator. the english language does not have words strong enough to adequately condemn the

in syria all people want for christmas in the new year is peace but there's no festive mood in the air as the latest round of violence leaves a dozen dead. and a new mission for a new year fueled by its successes in libya david cameron reveals plans for involvement in oil rich somalia now describing the country as a threat to british security. hello live from moscow this is r.t. a warm welcome to you is just after midnight here now this early morning the twenty fifth of december there for our very best wishes to you at this time for me kevin zero in on the rest of the news team on duty now if you're celebrating christmas around the world to our top story thousands gathered in central moscow this saturday to protest against this month's parliamentary election results the mass rally was organized by opposition groups who claim the vote was rigged in this and now i was at the scene of the demonstration. it's certainly fair to say that the head count of this saturday's rally beats that we saw two weeks ago at below plan square official figures we're hearing from the interior ministry is th

on to power we'll ask if syria is on its way to becoming a libya to point out. the solution to the uprooting penguins who grew up in the body which we're getting along with the opposite sex sort of covering fluff and not real news as protests happen around the world leave it to the mainstream media to miss the real headlines looks like these outlets are more concerned with getting the story out first and getting it right. putting up their guard for us sure likes to tell the idea of a nuclear free world but it isn't practicing what it preaches so ten years after the u.s. pulled out of the anti-ballistic missile treaty with russia what's up with disabilities apapa see. it is wednesday december fourteenth seven pm in washington d.c. i'm christine for you watching our team. well let's begin with the person time magazine deems as person of the year for this year two thousand and eleven there were whispers it would be steve jobs but no this year time chose the protester had an interesting visual for the protester but in many ways this choice really makes sense from th

or correspondent but a lot of todd reporting from syria here's her thoughts on the crisis there. well when we went to syria it was sometime in october and the situation was getting very tense there so our flight arrived at the around three in the morning so you can imagine the surprise and the shock of security forces when three foreign journalists arrive at a time when there was a media bad international journalists there but we're here in the center of the assyrian capital you can see behind me traffic is just about starting to flow again we're going into the city damascus was rather peaceful it was quiet although very tense still because everybody knows what was going on in the country. and what's interesting i think mostly for us is that we saw the kind of. diverse opinions on what was going on there was no clear two sides even there were more than two sides it was not i want the regime or i don't want the regime. and there was one time you were interviewing a young man and he was rather critical of the government so he gave his point of view and what you didn't see on the ca

inside syria and the. spanish reporter was first in libya recognized them here in inside of the top of beasts so-called free. syrian army but not syria. and still to come this hour a disaster of chain reaction. suddenly there was there was panic cause outside of the car about to film a stand up. and the police and the emergency workers suddenly just like the sound saying. it was all inject me. but i could understand there was that you can see the fear and can also there was a tsunami literally yelling in my face to get back into the car artie's international correspondent i've ever been at looking back back at the risks he faced while reporting from japan ravaged by the raw power of nature. but first pakistan facing a crisis in its relations with the us appears to be seeking more support from other powerful ally to the east china ties with america have been all but severed following last month's deadly drone strike by the us military and this year's raid to kill osama bin laden without as lot about as for

but international pressure mounts on syria to auntie's other bennett talks to want to britain's foremost journalist jonathan steele from the guardian newspaper for his take on possible solutions to the country's political crisis. i'm joined by jonathan steele former chief correspondent of the guardian newspaper and now a commentator on international affairs jonathan thanks for speaking to r.t. europe now the u.k. recently been approached by the king of jordan to spearhead a diplomatic offensive against assad william hague the foreign secretary is now met with opposition leaders is this the preamble to another libyan start intervention. it could be i mean we can't be sure and i think it's dangerous it might be i mean they're trying to be hague's message to the opposition is to get your act together unite on a common platform in other words to turn yourself much more like the libyan opposition who the government also talked to and then eventually recognized as the official government of libya so i think it is the first stage to trying to recognize the opposition. there are hints more from