vice president mike pence charles stratford is standing by in chelan near turkey's border with syria so as we just discussed some of these issues but right now i can still see smoke out of there in the background and there has still been some fighting hasn't there is this as this cease fire slowly takes effect. toole intents and purposes certainly according to what we've seen and heard the cease fire does seem to be holding hey when we arrived early this morning early this morning sorry there was the sound of gunfire and what we understood could well be light artillery that was among some news organizations some. being reported as an indication that the cease fire in fact being being broken but certainly according to the free syrian army fighters the syrian rebels that we've spoken to they say that the situation is calm we understand that that smoke you can see behind me is some sort of fire is not necessarily to do with any kind of violation of the cease fire very interesting though listening to again president ordered a war on doubling down effectively on his plan to see this missi

let's go to the border now with the latest development there charles stratford holly so what is the situation on the ground what are we hearing if anything at charles from the s.d.r. . will certainly no reports of any fighting overnight but interesting really no reaction from the kurdish s.d.f. across the border with respect to this deal bait made by russia and turkey the fact of the matter is is that the s.d.f. we believe according to our school sees still control or still present in vost areas across this border. we estimate that they're in an area that is around $300.00 coleman says in total that's not including the estimated 120 kilometers that the turkish forces are in control over of course the big question is is whether the syrian kurds are going to fight back or refuse to withdrawal and we've heard the turkish ministry of defense saying that they are not going to resume military operations at this stage but the russians have come out and said that if those kurdish fighters do not move back to 30 kilometers from the entire border within the next 6 days then turkey has every right to re

in a moment we'll be live with charles stratford he is monitoring the situation on the border between turkey and syria 1st this report from saying a hoarder. turkish airstrikes and artillery bombardment are targeting the defenses of the kurdish led syrian democratic forces as the turkish army advances into northeast syria on some fronts turkish soldiers and their local allies the opposition syrian national army pushed a few kilometers deep capturing several villages in mainly spare sleep populated areas the s. the f. is outgunned and outmanned by the 2nd largest army in the nato alliance but kurdish led forces are putting up resistance promising to make any battle long and hard the flat terrain however will make it difficult to hold their ground in the face of heavy firepower their media focus of turkey's air and ground operation is a 100 kilometer stretch of territory from the syrian border town of tell me to the border town of ras al-ain to the east it is an area of the u.s. military withdrew from earlier this week it seems the turkish army and its local allies want to secure areas

on the turkey syria border let's get a live update now from charles stratford he's also joining us from turkey's border with syria in the town of. charles what's the latest what do you have for us. well certainly in the last couple of hours in this immediate area there has been a low in the fighting we've heard a few will it sound to be outgoing artillery fire but certainly in comparison to the situation a few hours ago it has been a lot quieter as you say according to asil season seem to be backed up by. a as many as 9 civilians may have been killed in want to believe to be artillery fire from the syrian side including a 9 month old baby that was in sri different locations according to a civil lawsuit she's with the free syrian army of a coolness the syrian opposition which of course of being drafted in by the 6 to take part in this operation the turks having back them for years during the syrian revolution absolute says are telling us that you have to say there was fighters have taken control of potentially 5 villages in the east and you for each use area and food deliveries around th

stratford who's arm the turkey side of the border with syria and charles we've been talking about a military buildup for the past few days now so just give us or paint the picture really in terms of what you've been able to see both through the day and through the night. but certainly what we've been reporting is consistent with fixedly what we've witnessed over the last couple of days here. last night for example our drive back to the hotel dozens of military vehicles heading towards this area where our live position is these vehicles included a p.c.'s we believe trucks carrying i mean ition they were flatbed trucks with tanks as well we've seen artillery positions as well very close by to hit and there are as we have also been reporting now confirmation it certainly seems the fight is with the f.s.a. the free syrian army which of course been supported by the turkish military by the turkish government in syria since the syrian revolution began years ago are being bussed over and will be potentially taking part in any kind of military incursion into syria military analysts are sayin

stratford is an os a collie so charles what is the situation on the ground as are any warning get from the s.d.f. . well certainly no fighting reported over over the overnight but yeah no word yet from the a.s.d.f. no reaction from them about this memorandum the agreement between the turks and the russians. the fact of the matter is though that the kurdish forces are in a very difficult position let's not forget. they accuse the americans of letting them down to being stabbed in the back in which we were in their forces for the turks to then launch their military operation they were then forced to turn to the syrian regime and the russians for their help and now we have this agreement between the russians and the turks demanding that the remaining kurdish forces withdraw that 30 kilometers from an area that if you do the math is around 320 kilometers along the border. so far certainly the turkish military says that it will at this stage not resume any kind of military action against the kurds the kurdish fighters but all eyes on them in terms of how they will respond to this agreement

are on the way preparations are underway together with our commanders all that's across lives now to charles stratford who's on the turkey syria border trying you've been watching the movements of troops and military vehicles there talk us through what you've been seeing how imminent is an incursion. well it's very difficult to say but certainly indications are as we've been witnessing over the last 24 hours also this incredibly heavy military build up certainly last night driving back to the hotel we sold dozens of military vehicles heading in this direction those vehicles including a.p.c.'s what we believe will be ammunition trucks and flatbed trucks carrying tanks we know that their artillery positions as well along the border some very close to where we stand. and as you say there seems to be. confidence in the use of the free syrian army fighters that have been brought over from syria these are groups that the turks have backed since pretty much the beginning of the revolution in syria we understand certainly according to military analysts who are speculating that those forces in any ki

thank you for that update charles stratford now the united arab emirates is reported to be trying to silence this network the bloomberg news network says the u.a.e. is running a lobbying campaign in washington using a law firm to try to influence people working for members of congress the report says they've used twitter accounts hiding the u.a.e. filiation zz in an attempt to discredit al-jazeera and cutter because the u.a.e. and saudi arabia have led the blockade since 2017 against counter one of their demands has been the closure of the outer syrup media network more from patty culhane. this is a really in-depth report again from bloomberg news and what it says is that and this has been reported up until now that the blockade has taken a toll in the united states in essence they're saying that this very powerful lobbying firm in fact the most powerful in washington its name is a can grow stross and how are that the u.a.e. paid them $1900000.00 over the 12 month period ending in june and that what this law firm did is they had contact with staffers from 30 different members of cong

says 130000 people have now been displaced by the escalating violence let's go live now to charles stratford he's in chuckle a on the turkish syrian border so 1st of all charles tell us what's going on in some new. well certainly there's been quite a heavy artillery bombardment the small inning on positions we understand around the town of tel aviv which is a couple of kilometers in that direction is you said in your intro we are hearing the pull from syrian rebel fighters that up dissipating in this operation with us that they claim to have taken large parts of control of that town some of which is around 10 to 15 kilometers south of tel aviv so if that is true and confirmed it shows you the depths of which turkish full season pushed into syria and that town is significant because it is potentially a supply route full the turkish full scenes we understand that they currently control around 13 villages around tel aviv which respects to further east that town russell laine that the turkish military yesterday said that they were now in full control of that was subsequently disputed by the s.d.

meeting 1st we'll cross over to charles stratford he is joining us from the turkish syrian border if we just take a step back charles for a moment just tell us what more you're learning about the military agreements that have been made between the syrian government and the s.d.f. and what impact that's having on the ground. well what we do know is you are saying there in the introduction is that the syrian army has certainly moved into positions. close to the border here the town behind me is russell and now they're seeing some of the faces fighting in recent days and in fact he was about 2 hours ago now that the turkish defense ministry for the 2nd time this week declared that it had full control over that town the fighting there has been very fierce very close to the line if you call this way is a town called tell some other which we understand according to syrian news agency footage syrian the syrian army is very much there the syrian army's now positioned in a number of different towns heading along the border to the west is the furthest eastern position including as you say town

stratford he's joining us live from atlanta i know you've been seeing and hearing those are all eventualities what are you hearing about the turkish operation so far. well certainly in the last hour or so things have quietened down in this immediate area but up until then as you say for the last 5 or 6 hours before then there was a heavy biology's of artillery rockets fired and then it was close to the time where the yet turkish defense ministry announced that a ground incursion had begun and there was a lot of heavy arms fire heavy machine gun fire quite close to where we are now a lot of traceable so traces that we could see there has been some reaction certainly from the s.d.f. in the last couple of hours as well most notably one from the chief spokesperson who denied that that ground incursion had started certainly in the in the immediate area to where we are now there were reports as well in the turkish media all of mortars fired by kurdish forces into into turkey no reports of casualties. huge concern of course in terms of humanitarian crisis potentially across the border we understand

stratford. on the turkey syria border bringing us up to speed with the latest from the battlefield charlie the battle lines seem to be shifting. they certainly do certainly in the last few minutes for the 1st time since we've been here which is a good 34 hours now that being a volley of artillery fire fired by the across the border as you say the big flashpoint lot of focus of attention at the moment is this town among base where we understand syrian army already present there we have reports that but only if it's a fight it is these are the syrian arab fighters that have been brought in by the turks of dissipate in this operation we understand they and the turkish military are around 10 to 15 kilometers away from that city we understand that moscow the russians still very much involved in trying to calm things down to avoid any potential to avoid any confrontation between these 2 armies meanwhile in very interesting day despite repeated claims by say both sides to have control the latest yester

so it's more than double that number charles stratford has more on the turkish syrian border at a press conference and s.d.f. spokesman denied the turkish military has claimed that it had full control of the town of russell lyon and since then there have been reports of clashes in surrounding villages again repeated at the group's call for the establishment of a no fly zone over northern syria and he highlighted what he describes as being the dangers of turkey's campaign with respect to the global fight against terror the international and national the turkish invasion threatens the reactivation of eisel and it has revived some of its cells we are still cooperating with the international coalition to fight myself but we are now fighting on 2 fronts one against the turkish invasion and another against deisel there's been more heavy shelling all around the town of tel aviv today armored personnel carriers tanks and heavy military equipment has been seen pouring towards the border despite increasing international condemnation there is no sign whatsoever of the turkish military pulling back

stratford is live for us and . charles as we've been hearing just there from kimberly turkey's already saying that the army is ready to launch operations at any moment are we expecting any tuchis troop movements where you are. well certainly there has been quite a lot of troop movement in this area we understand having seen pitches all of. the heavy weapons being moved into position and we're hearing reports literally in the last hour that this seems to be. additional movement of turkish forces of turkish every weaponry into this area i'm standing in front of the town of tel aviv which was taking control of by the s.d.f. with the help of coalition forces from eisel into sal's and 15 i mean one of the 2 locations where we understand u.s. soldiers a small number of u.s. soldiers were withdrawn and withdrew a couple of days ago as we've been reporting there's a lot of tension as you can imagine and tension mounts as we get these increasing reports of a heavy weaponry build up interestingly in the last hour or so there

stratford is in the turkish district of nash on the border with 1st of all charles tell us what the situation is where you are. has witnessed some of the heaviest artillery bombardment to nasa strikes in the last couple of days behind me is the town of. inside syria now we understand certainly according to the government here. they say that turkish forces have pushed into around 4 coloma to those inside inside syria the understanding is that they were trying to close in forces inside. and this is one of the most easterly points of what the turkish government describing as the 1st phase of this military operation an operation that they hope will stretch around 100 kilometers west along the border down to the town of tell. where again i think you mentioned in your intro according to turkish government will turkish military sources they say that they're full cesar around 8 kilometers into syria in that area as well and we understand that the civilian populations have posed those towns have all but flayed most of them have gone very worrying situation as you can imagine on the. humanita

stratford who's sin act kala on the turkey syria border charles what's the latest. well there's been another biology of altieri from positions close to here in the last few minutes we understand these turkish turkish forces are targeting as to positions in and around that town you mentioned which is very close. part of this 1st phase so the military say of this campaign we understand that syrian rebel fighters that have been brought in to help in this campaign will be backed by turkey for years during the syrian revolution control around 13 villages round. one of them that you mentioned there in the intro this is the town actually of so looking there are a poll that said there are advances being made by those syrian forces towards that town they claiming that they are in control at least a part of it very significant because as you say it would offer a supply line forces. to come back in potentially and surround. the look is around 10 to 50 kilometers south of tel aviv with respect to what's happening in the east we understand that have been clashes this morning aro

what's going out of there and grows only turkey let's cross over to charles stratford our correspondent who's been on the ground really as your colleague turkey syria border monitoring exactly what's happening we've been seeing a variety of pictures of smoke plumes of smoke coming up in certain areas or charles just explain to us where you are what you're seeing and hearing if anything . we are quite close to the borders certainly we have been speaking or getting information through from some of us sources with the y.p. g. . and they are telling us that there have been artillery strikes taking shots in the strikes east of the town called come in the last few minutes we've also been reporting airstrikes as you say on the town of russell i and there have also been reports again from. what p.g. sources say that there were. halted restrikes on 2 villages south of tel. which is directly on the border and we've also heard all of them have to do a strikes on the town of isa. we are in the last the last few minutes we've heard and we can't confirm this that there may well have been some sort of

stratford is following developments for us from charlotte for on the turkey syria border. according to reports that we're hearing from people participating from groups but is approaching in a medical convoy the 2nd medical convoy to go into russell and in the last couple of days they're saying that that what they described as the 2nd batch of injured civilians and fighters and not injured fighters are preparing to leave the city now is a statement from the s.d.f. the kurdish forces saying that their fighters had left the city a statement from their chief spokesperson very definitive in his words saying we do not have any fighters in russell lane anymore now that kind of statement was being disputed by free syrian army fighters that we've been contacting inside the city these of course all those syrian fighters that have been very much at the forefront of this military operation with the turks they were disputing that saying that there could well be fighters still in the city they were saying that there were a lot of booby traps that had been left around there i think certa

stratford has more from their techies border with syria. earlier in the day we heard gunfire and light artillery being exploded in the town behind me here russell i mean that's been. the site of some fierce battles in recent days but for all intents and purposes it seems like the cease fire is holding certainly syrian rebel forces that have been participating with turkish troops telling us that he has been quiet in areas under their control around the town of tel aviv they're also saying that kurdish forces are withdrawing from an area between russell line and an area that they had control of that basically took them right up to the pulled up to that section in between certainly according to those reports movement there for their all some worrying kind of ambiguities in this agreement the turkish government want to see.

stratford has more on turkey's border with syria. the turkish military build up and preparations continue here along the turkish syrian border we saw dozens of military vehicles coming in this direction last night including tanks and a.p.c.'s meanwhile we are also expecting that the f.s.a. this is the free syrian army that the turks have banked in syria since officially the beginning of the revolution there will be participating in any kind of military incursion into syria we understand that f.a. said f.s.a. fighters were brought over to turkey from on oxys last night military analysts expecting they could will be used in any kind of incursion from positions to the west of here meanwhile the calls by the f.d.a. to the people in that area across the border to resist the turks we have seen. protests in the last couple of days in the town of tele i'll be out which is behind me which was taken control of from i saw by the s.d.f. in 2050 we have seen small protests happening across the border in the last couple of days meanwhile there are

stratford he is live for us in action on the tacky syria border charles how soon could we be expecting texas troop movements where you are because no one's been saying his army is ready to launch operations at any moment. yeah it's very difficult to predict certainly we're getting unconfirmed reports in the turkish media that there was some shelling that has taken place in recent hours a town called. across the border which we understand well it's to the east of here quite at quite a distance from here behind me across the border there is the town of. interestingly there is that in fact a joint turkish and us command station based here and we see the u.s. and the turks taking part in patrols in this area we also understand the reports around 2 dozen u.s. fool sees certainly some of those 2 dozen actually withdrew from. in the last certainly the last 24 hours it's very difficult to say if indeed any military operation does happen when in fact it will we will so hearing though certainly reports last night that troop movements what was described as heavy weaponry being moved into position

stratford . smoke rises over the northern syrian town of russell i mean the turkish defense ministry declared victory over the kurdish s.d.f. forces for a 2nd time here on monday kurdish fighters have put up fierce resistance and these are syrian soldiers in the town of tama just a few kilometers away after a deal was made between the sdn from the syrian government state media said the army would confront turkish aggression the turkish president remained defiant. we're not going to enter man beach the real owners of that area are arabic brothers and they are going to enter that area our approach to this is that they are going to enter there and we are going to make it secure for them. the syrian kurds have made deals with damascus before especially in the battle against eisel but an s.d.f. commander said they were faced with a difficult choice this time there was little trust between the 2 science but the s.d.f. quickly suffered significant losses during battles with turkish forces and the syrian

stratford banned from tehran cannot speak now to matthew bryza in istanbul is a former u.s. diplomat who is now a senior fellow at the atlantic council good to have you with us so the trumpet ministration is talking about sanctions will they really go ahead with it do you think. i think they don't want to release if they is president trump he has established what he feels as a positive and even warm release relationship with president carter one and his stated preference seems to be to be a mediator possibly between the kurds or the s.d.f. i should say and turkey. so much will depend on how the turks carry out this military operation you just played a clip of the defense secretary esper talking about serious actions and sanctions that could be taken against turkey if turkey goes beyond certain bounds in terms of targeting civilian populations and there is strong sentiment in the united states congress to impose sanctions so i think if if turkey stays within the bounds of the objectives that president carter want to outline to push back the white e.g. eliminate a terrorist th

charles stratford reports from the turkish syrian border turkish heavy weapons same across the syrian border towards the town of tilapia. the mainly kurdish syrian democratic forces or defeated i saw the.

stratford is in close to the turkey syria border so obviously charlie how this is playing out on the ground is crucial because that cease fire is just about to expire what are you seeing and hearing. well i mean certainly according to just listening to that press conference it sounds like we have to stay on 150 our extension to that to the to the initial ceasefire. which is interesting in relation to what we've been hearing here is speaking to members of the free syrian army that have been very much part of this turkish operation and we spoke to a commander earlier who said for example but the town behind me russell line that was very much the focus of so much fighting in the build up to that cease fire he was saying that. they his forces of his forces already have control of around 70 percent of it meaning 30 percent of it was still on of the control of the s.d.f. now we're right on the border here so that is an indication of the of the fact that according to according to him according to these free syrian army fighters there are still a lot of estee if. and he was saying in other a

we'll go to her but 1st we're going to talk to charles stratford in china who's on the turkish side of the border charles we've been hearing from president that he is not going to relent until he's achieved his objectives looking behind you there you can see the smoke clearly that fighting goes on. yeah the fighting here today has been intense the town behind me russell i and this is very much has been very much the focus of attention over since basically this operation started the so-called 1st phase of this operation according to the turkish military we've seen artillery fire heard a lot of heavy gunfire all day that black smoke we believe could well be a gas station a petrol station that has been hit we understand that the turkish military says that least it has made gains southwest of the city a lot of the action though has been to the east we're also hearing that we're hearing reports that we cannot confirm of clashes around that flashpoint city of money base which is around 120 kilometers to my west that city of course as we know was was taken over by the syrian army yesterday as

stratford who joins us from the turkey syria border charlie thanks for being with us so the turks seem to have achieved one of their objectives which was forcing the courage to retreat east of the euphrates just bring us up to speed with what's been happening on the battlefield. well we are to the east of this of the border of this stretch of land that the turks wants to prepare so they say for this safety zone this is the town of la behind me it has been the scene of fierce battles the small warning a lot of artillery a lot of heavy weaponry being we are hearing being used this town has been claimed is being victory claimed in this town by both sides in recent days i mean he's right on the border and it certainly seems to be the biggest problem thus far in this 1st phase of this operation for the turks when the stand that there are syrian government forces in a town called tamada which is about 30 kilometers behind it we also understand that the portly most of if not all the civilians have fled from this town gains made by the turks so their military claimed in the last day include ar

stratford has more from jail and cannot in the last 1015 minutes we're beginning to see what looks to be absolutely shows landing to the east as well so there seems to be some sort of effort to seal the city of these syrian rebel sources saying that they're finding it very difficult it's talking about kurdish fighters using very complicated and deep tunnel complexes and they say they're coming under far a lot from turkish snipers the northern islands do you p.a. has said it cannot support the current brics the plan being worked on by british prime minister barak's johnson on the e.u. do peace statement comes just hours ahead of a key summit in brussels on the u.k.'s exit from the block hong kong leader kerry lamb has been shouted down for a 2nd consecutive day in the territories legislature opposition members protested in the chamber and called for had to step down at least 10 people were removed by security cameras trying to answer questions regarding her annual policy address the us ambassador to the european union is next in line to testify in the ongoing impeachment inquiry agains

charles stratford is live. at the turkish syrian border so i think we're just about over a little over 24 hours before this fire all paused expires does it look like the kurds of left the area the turks want to turn into a buffer zone or are we looking at renewed conflict. all evidence would suggest no sammy. as we heard him say there the turkish government president or the one wants to create this buffer zone in northern syria 444 kilometers long and around 30 kilometers deep inside syria from the beginning from the 1st day that this agreement was made with the americans the syrian sorry the kurdish forces said that they would only withdraw from an area in the town of russell line along the conflict zone to a town called tell i'll be out now that area is proximately 120 kilometers long we understand there may have been some troops kurdish withdrawals from the area in between but it is nothing like the kind of area the president or the war wants as a safe zone so he says to to get some of these syrian refugees

stratford is near the turkey syria border with the latest. so fall certainly the turkish military says that it will at this stage not resume any kind of military action against the could. the kurdish forces but our eyes on them in terms of how they will respond to this agreement because russia is saying now that if indeed those forces do not withdraw to 30 kilometers within the next 6 days then turkey has the right to resume its military campaign against them. meanwhile u.s. defense secretary mark asper is in baghdad to discuss the deployment of u.s. troops in iraq as for said all u.s. troops are leaving syria will go to western iraq and will continue to fight i saw with iraq in military says that they don't have permission to stay. egypt has accepted an offer from the u.s. to help break the deadlock with a multi $1000000000.00 dam project on the blue nile construction a 70 percent complete and when it's finished it will provide electricity for ethiopia but egypt is worried the project will shrink its share of the river. the top u.s. diplomat

let's take you now to charles stratford live from a chuckle the near turkey's border with syria and it's a very fluid situation charles at the moment take us through how this is playing out on the ground. yeah i suppose in the last couple of hours or so we've had a volley of artillery being fired from positions in this area across the border as you reported in the intro we now understand that syrian that the syrian army are inside among base that site very strategically important town to the west of here which is very much within the area of turkey's plan to set up this safe zone we understand that f.s.a. fighters these are the syrian rebel fighters that have been brought in by the turks to participate in this operation moving towards. going to stand they could be as close as so 10 kilometers away. this of course is a huge concern and the focus of attention we understand at the moment very much of the russians the russians saying that they are doing all they can to avoid some sort of confrontation between the what is now 2 separate armies we also hear reports from the city of russell i w

and moscow 1st though we go to charles stratford who's insearch near the turkish syrian border and some us concern here charles about a potential class between syrian government forces and turkish government forces give us a sense of how that's playing out. yeah there is increasing fear of a confrontation just like that we understand now as you say that the syrian army are in side monday according to our sources the turkish forces are moving down from the north towards those that town we understand there are ongoing clashes in villages close by as you say the turkish authorities to be saying one soldier was killed in this operation. u.s. forces complete that pullouts interesting the some videos appeared in the last few hours that it is described as showing a russian soldier walking around one of the abandoned us camps. a serious concern for confrontation the russians saying that they are trying to patrol the area to keep the 2 sides apart. very much part of the wants plan to set up what he describes as the safety zone for these refugees 3600000 refugees in this country for a lot of thos

and let's get more on this our correspondent charles stratford is joining us live from on the turkey syria border what do you hear and charles about the situation in the northeast and have we heard from the kurdish syrian democratic forces yet. salut lee no official statement by by the s.d.f. since this agreement was made between turkey and russia last night. we are hearing though as you say that these joint russian and syrian patrols have started along the border as per that agreement we're also hearing that russian forces across the euphrates and heading towards the town of money and co bani on the border again as per the russian and turkey agreement we're hearing according to sources that we have with the free syrian army fighters that were very much in the forefront of this operation with the turks there saying that. full seize are destroying their tunnels in the town of our mood which is to the east of russell and that that town that saw so much of the fighting that is now in the stand on the control and just as an indication of how fragile the security situation is at the momen

stratford he is standing by on the border between turkey and syria 1st we have this report from dana harder. turkish airstrikes and artillery bombardment are targeting the defenses of the kurdish led syrian democratic forces as the turkish army advances into northeast syria on some fronts turkish soldiers and their local allies the opposition syrian national army pushed a few kilometers deep capturing several villages in mainly spare sleep populated areas the s. the f. is outgunned and outmanned by the 2nd largest army in the nato alliance a kurdish led forces are putting up resistance promising to make any battle long and hard the flat terrain however will make it difficult to hold their ground in the face of heavy firepower their media focus of turkey's air and ground operation is a 100 kilometer stretch of territory from the syrian border town of tell me to the border town of ras al-ain to the east it is an area the u.s. military would drew from earlier this week it seems that turkish army and its local allies want to secure areas before moving into towns. international aid agenci

now there is charles stratford life on the turkey syria border chance many thanks within the last 10 minutes polls have opened in june is here where people are voting in a presidential runoff they're choosing between 2 political newcomers business tycoon abele carulli and law professor kai saeed the 2 who are seen as anti establishment beat out a field of more than 20 candidates in the 1st round and karoo it managed to do that while in jail on corruption charges the weather will have to deal with fixing the country's weak economy and soaring unemployment let's go live now to what eunice. is at a polling station there so how much power does the president have in tunis yeah sure how significant is this vote today. well edgy and the powers of the presence have been eroded in the last years now it's the parliament and the president and the prime minister who have a bigger say but the president still is seen as a symbol of unity into his ear this explains why there is this growing excitement here about the election standing in a polling station in the capital to this just give you an idea

stratford's report from the turkey syria border. turkish forces in the syrian rebel allies attacked kurdish positions in northeast syria pounding them with strikes and artillery barrages in a cross border military operation just days after u.s. troops pulled back from the area. world leaders have described the offensive as dangerous and reckless and warn it will strengthen regional stability. the turkish vice president sees it differently. this operation will be a source of peace and will bring peace and will sort out the syrian crisis in a radical way this operation led by president recent tayyip erdogan as one of the steps and one of the procedures among other steps taken by president won for the sake of syria and for keeping the unity of syria and. turkey as president received the type says the aim of the offensive is to eliminate what he calls a terror accord all along turkey's southern border. he also wants to establish a safe zone inside territory currently held by the kurdish late syrian democratic forces where 2000000 refuge

shortly but 1st let's cross over to charles stratford in cali in turkey's border with syria and charles a great deal of military movement being reported where you are what seems to be the situation so far. yes reports certainly of turkish heavy weaponry being moved into position close to where we are now right along this border so we understand the town behind me the town of telling our tale i'll be out was taking control of from eisel by the s.d.f. by those kurdish fighters with the help of u.s. coalition forces in 2000. and 15 and as you say the s.d.f. of described this decision by president john to withdraw all those troops u.s. troops from this area as being a stab in the back and there are serious concerns with respect to the global fight against terrorism when you consider that there are thousands of i saw fighters for example in s.d.f. jails and the s.d.f. of say that they cannot guarantee that these fighters would they would be able to maintain their detention in the event of any military escalation by the turks. say they're doing this because they describe the main fighting for

stratford in chelan on the turkish side of the border and charles we were just hearing there from president earlier one about his objectives and saying he will not finish until he is achieved those objectives give us a sense of how that's being achieved on the ground toward extend into turkey meeting those objectives. well certainly where we're standing here branch of the town of russell ion across the border those objectives in terms of clearing out kurdish fighters that he describes as terrorist from that area seems to be proving a big challenge this being some very heavy fighting. in that town today a lot of heavy weapons we can hear being used we hear in jets overhead a lot of artillery a lot of artillery fire as well now this town has been contested since day one and repeatedly victory has been declared by both sides so obviously a huge challenge here that would suggest we understand certainly according to the military that they've made it they're claiming to have made gains pushing south southwest from the town of tel aviv out which the force used to control over a few days ago we als

but 1st let's cross over to charles stratford on turkey's border with syria and charles let's just begin with the situation of military build up turkey really prepared for some sort of incursion into that region. that's right so yes certainly we've seen military build up in this area so the artillery positions close to where i'm standing here in the town behind me crossed the border a town called total it has been under control since 2015 when the s.d.f. along with coalition forces took control from eisel and yes you have as you say considering this announcement by donald trump to withdraw u.s. forces who they work with a number of years now as being a stab in the back they're very concerned about any potential kind of security threats to the efforts that they've succeeded in in terms of the battle against eisel in this area we understand there are thousands of eisel prisoners in s.d.f. controlled jails there are concerns that any military operation we could even see eisel fighters escaping those jails all the s.d.f. losing control of areas that they've clearly cleared of eisel there are

let's talk straight now to charles stratford he's an act chatelaine on the turkey syria border that brings up to speed 1st of all charlie with the fighting was happening on the ground. well sami according to the syrian rebels just updating in this offensive with dish military their knives now saying that they have taken control of the center of tel aviv this town on the western side of this initial offensive by the what they describe is an issue but it's a huge military attack on that has come under heavy bombardment 3 days at least now . we understand the population which. majority at least. fled as that offensive began we're also hearing that. the they could well be over reports on going fighting around the town of. russell i now that is the other highly significant to have for this to sit on the eastern side of this initial operation saying that yesterday the military actually said they had taken full control of the russell line they swarming. in fact it had to retreat a little bit after facing a strong a counterattack by the s.b.a. . and as i say we now understand the street to street

we begin our coverage with charles stratford. on the. turkish forces in the syrian rebel allies attacked kurdish positions in the eighty's and syria pounding them with strikes and artillery barrages in a cross border military operation just days after u.s. troops pulled back from the area. world leaders have described the offensive as dangerous and reckless and warn it will strengthen regional stability the turkish vice president sees it differently. this operation will be a source of peace and will bring peace and we'll sort out the syrian crisis in a radical way this operation led by president resupply of burdwan as one of the steps and one of the procedures among other steps taken by president to one for the sake of syria and for keeping the unity of syria. says he's president received the type says the aim of the offensive is to eliminate what he calls a terror a corridor all along turkey's southern border. he also wants to establish a safe zone in site territory carli held by the kurdish late syrian democratic forces where 2000000 r

stratford who's joining us live from jail on aparna border with syria a lot of questions surrounding this ceasefire charles but just bring us right up to speed with what you're hearing about whether there have been any more violations. well certainly this since this morning when we arrived this morning there was the sound of gunfire what we understood as being sort of light artillery being used in the town behind us here russell and since then it has been very quiet i'd say for the last sort of 66 hours also certainly here in this area the cease fire seems to have held we're also hearing reports from some of those syrian rebel fighters that have been participating in turkey's operation they saying that it's very quiet around the town of tel aviv out which the turkish forces took control of a few days ago in the last couple of hours as well interestingly. turkish sources with the turkish forces are telling us that kurdish forces have started to withdraw from the area between russell line and tel aviv bearing in mind that kurdish forces have control according to the ministry of defense

stratford. which is right on turkey's border with syria charles take us through what's happening there. yes you're right we are i suppose about a bottle way behind me is the syrian border the town of russell i. now this is being the target of intense bombardment by turkish forces for the last couple of days this is the furthest eastern section if you like of what the turkish military described as their 1st phase in this operation. they're concentrating on an area from here going west around 100 kilometers down the border to the town of tel i'll be out. on the stand certainly from sources that we have amongst the free syrian army some of these all the syrian fighters that were brought over by the turks turkey has backed them in syria for many years and they are taking part in a ground operation now the turkish vice president has come out in the last few minutes seemingly and has said that turkish forces have pushed in side syria in this area for kilometers and 8 kilometers into the area around te

stratford. u.s. congressional democrats have issued subpoenas for 2 business men charged with campaign financing violations equating left parness and better russian igor freeman who were arrested in florida or associates of president all trumps personal lawyer rudy giuliani they were involved in giuliani's efforts to get ukraine to investigate one of the leading democratic presidential hopefuls joe biden according to the indictment both men funneled foreign money to u.s. political candidates trump is currently facing an impeachment inquiry into whether he withheld military aid to ukraine for personal political gain alan fisher has more on this now from washington. both these men were arrested at dulles international airport on the outskirts of washington in fact it's in the state of virginia that happened late on wednesday both were on a flight out of the country although you shouldn't read too much into that they are facing a number of charges it's a 21 p.g. indictment they are accused of makin

s controlled territory for safety in a country that has already suffered years of war charles stratford al jazeera on the turkish syrian border in other news a manhunt underway in eastern germany after at least one gunman killed 2 people and injured others near a synagogue this video shows the moment the gunman opened fire on the synagogue in the city of hama it's the holiest day of the jewish calendar the yom kippur war protest isn't ecuador have clashed with security forces during a 7th day of anti-government demonstrations thousands of indigenous people marched on the streets in the capital quito angry over fuel price hikes introduced by president lenin morena. to an asean presidential candidate in the bill carter we have been freed from jail just 4 days before the runoff vote we had been behind boson's august accused of money laundering and tax evasion the media mogul came 2nd in the 1st round of the presidential elections last month. well those are the headlines on al-jazeera i'll have the news hour for you in just under one hour coming up next as al-jazeera world thank you for wat

kurdish fighters have to leave an area 32 kilometers deep into syria charles stratford is in san luis near turkey's border with syria. a 2nd medical convoy is being allowed into the town of russell line we understand that there were a number of wounded civilians and routed kurdish fighters that have left out of the city now on that convoy yesterday's convoys we heard were being held up refused access by members of the free syrian army these are the fighters that have been very much at the forefront of turkey's military campaign into northern syria it seems as if those kind of difficulties have been overcome today with use of these wounded being allowed to leave the city meanwhile. free syrian army fighters saying us telling us that there are still kurdish forces in iraq. and we also understand that the general pace of this withdrawal of kurdish forces that's according to this agreement that was that was set up by the u.s. in turkey to general pace of that which will is very slow if happening at all in huge areas across syria's northern border which of course is a worrying sign when yo

and istanbul but 1st we cross over to charles stratford has joining us from the on turkey's border with syria and that is where charles we are hearing that there are civilian deaths. that's right yes according to the local government here we understand. at least 2 possibly 3 people were killed here including a 9 month old baby and a woman and another one possibly 2 in another area we understand. could well be responsible for. up to 70 people injured as well showing you just what kind of risks taking in this military operation when we're seeing the s.d.f. responding to this incredible bombardment over the last approximate sort of 24 hours or so i suppose now. bab in the continued right the way through the day it's been relatively quiet here in the last hour also we've heard a few outgoing artillery shells oversea charges in positions in the town of tal lobby and we understand which is just behind me i suppose the older is is a round about half a kilometer away and overseas so let's go out to the hundreds of thousands of civilians in these areas across the other side of the border as this

from resuming their military campaign charles stratford on the turkish syrian border keeping an eye on things there for us thank you charles well now let's go to sochi for more on those talks between the russian and turkish leaders step fasten is that step we are all counting down to the end of this cease fire it seems that mr pearson is the main power broker now in the syria conflict and the russians i believe lord he said they want more information from ankara about their plans what else do they want. well all eyes indeed are here on this meeting inside she only around 6 hours until this cease fire will expire both leaders have now been in talks for more than 2 and a half hours it was actually scheduled to have been finished already and we were expecting some statements have come out already but there is a lot to discuss president putin has a very big ambitious plan for this peace in syria he wants to connect turkey with the syrian government and also the syrian government with the kurds and he wants to go back to an agreement that was made in 1908 between turkey and syria which sort

stratford who's joining us from cali that's near turkey's border with syria and we've seen pictures charles our fire is raging along that border area what can you tell us about the states off the operation right now. well certainly the last couple of hours it has been relatively calm in this area certainly in relation to the incredible bombardment in the day i'm just hearing what sounds to be machine gun fire in the distance the turkish army has been along this border telling civilians on this side to stay in their homes and we understand according to sources the least or maybe up to 9 civilians have been killed by incoming artillery fire from across the border. we understand. the humanitarian crisis. james talking about in the u.n. is light at the forefront. of the agencies and people who work in the humanitarians in this region and around the world 15 humanitarian aid agencies have come together and a warning of a massive crisis and they have some figures just to put some context of what the syrians are facing. as an estimated 450000 civilians live within 5 kilometers of the perim

stratford. black smoke rising over northeastern syria turkey tanks and reinforcements move towards the border the circus military says it's captured a number of villages around the kurdish controlled towns of to lobby out and russell i mean it's reported most if not all the civilian populations fled. the u.n. says that more than 100000 people have been forced from their homes there are civilian casualties among the thousands of people fleeing turkey shell tillery shells soldiers and their syrian rebel allies turkey says it's conducting what it calls an anti terror operation to create a safe zone so syrian refugees in turkey can return. kurdish syrian democratic forces all s.p.f. is putting up fierce resistance turkey considers the main kurdish fighting force of the f.d.a. was aligned with a group which is full the turkish government for decades b.s.d.'s fault alongside u.s. forces a highly effective in defeating eisel in northern syria and the turkish offensive began after the u.s. withdrew some