back into syria and out of syria and back into syria towards the end which created a lot of challenges for military commanders. >> let's go back to the audience. question right here? >> thank you, everyone, for your time. i wanted to ask a question about spasms in foreign policy, we saw one to some degree with rapid withdrawal from syria during the trump administration, we've seen others since then including last summer in afghanistan. as you look at your reporting here and we look back at the northern syria episode and the following months and the way things settled down how do you see that in retrospect, how do you think it went and settled down and are there broader lessons we can take away from that as we look ahead to what afghanistan might be, what ukraine might be and other crises on the horizon? >> it was a mistake to impulsively order troops out of syria. fortunately we still have troops, about a thousand troops in syria, so the us still has a presence there which is important because over the horizon it is not an ideal strategy for going after terrorists as just happened a co

, back into syria and out of syria, and then back into syria in towards the end, which create a lot of challenges for the military commanders. thank you. let's go back to the audience, please. other questions, a question right here. thank you, everyone. your time, dan and robert with the washington post. i wanted to ask a question about, i guess, sort spasms in foreign policy. and i think we saw one to some degree with the rapid withdrawal from northern syria during the trump administration. we've obviously seen others since then last summer in afghanistan, i guess michael, as you look at your reporting here and we look back at that northern syria episode and in the following months and the way things kind of settled down, how do you see that in retrospect how do you think it went and? how do you think it settled down? and are there any broader lessons we can take away from that as we look at it, look ahead to what afghanistan might be, what ukraine be, and some of these other crises are on the horizon. i think you. well, i think it was a mistake to impulsively order out of syria. they

, back out of syria and back into syria, towards the end which had a lot of challenges for the commanders. >> thank you, everyone, for your time. i'm with the washington post. i wanted to ask about spats in foreign policy and the trumpsi administration and having that in northern syria and how do you see that broader information. >> thank you. >> well, it was a mistake to have troops with about a thousand troops in syria and on top garrison and the u.s. has a presence because over at the horizon is not an ideal strategy for going apheter rests that just happened a couple days ago in syria. it's important to keep a foothold there but the way that was -- the way that troops have some part of n the area was certainly it was one of the cement plans and it was a draw and the ammunition was blown up and the pipe and the u.s. came in and blew up that's fallen into the hole. >> we had prime minister and president abade. he's a hard negotiator but ultimately was a >>host: other questions from here? >> a lotot of people that read, degrade and destroy will be surprised to learn how extensive that ro

there are hundreds of camps in this part of syria. more than two million people live in them, forcibly displaced in syria's long—running civil war. when mohammed got there, he immediately found families begging for gifts on tiktok live. mona's husband was killed in an airstrike. she now lives with her six daughters. sharifa is blind in one eye and has partial sight in the other. for the past month, they've been going on tiktok live. it's tiring work, but they have limited options to earn a living in the camp and meet their basic needs. mona and her daughters go live for two or three hours at a time, several times a day. to go live on tiktok, you need at least 1,000 followers. then, when you're live, users can send digital gifts to reward creators for content they like. these gifts are bought with real money, ranging from roses, which cost a few cents, to lions and universes, which cost around $500 each. the gifts are converted to a virtual currency that you can withdraw as cash. they've got a private jet. that's why they're happy. t

and then assad, the president of syria must go. the problem was in syria in particular was it is ruled by an extremely brutal family that was prepared to sacrifice anything, prepared to destroy the country in order to stay in power and was backed by two powerful leaders in the way that other countries were not, russian number one and iran. both saw the survival of the regime as vital national interest for them and they were actually committed from the beginning and even more so as the war continued to keep the guy in power. their commitment to making him stay into the ultimate being much greater than our ambition to get assad to leave and that becomes kind of the court international conflict in trying to resolve this. the obama administration i think you would talk to most folks speaking honestly and, frankly, about this, and they would acknowledge that we gave the syrians more hope in some of our messaging than we were prepared to back up by saying assad must go, the implicit meaning is that assad must go and we're going to make h

and then assad, the president of syria must go. the problem was in syria in particular was it is ruled by an extremely brutal family that was prepared to sacrifice anything, prepared to destroy the country in order to stay in power and was backed by two powerful leaders in the way of the countries were not, russian number one and iran. both saw the survival of the regime as vital national interest for them and they were actually committed from the beginning and even more so as the war continued to keep the guy in power. their commitment to making him stay into the ultimate being much greater than our ambition to get assad to leave and that becomes kind of the court international conflict in trying to resolve this. the obama administration i think you would talk to most folks speaking honestly and, frankly, about this, and they would acknowledge that we gave the syrians more hope in some of our messaging than we were prepared to back up by saying assad must go, the implicit meaning is that assad must go and we're going to make him g

and i was the target engagement authority for iraq and syria. so the strikes were all happening based on what level of delegation i gave to those guys. and those that enabled them to make those strike decisions at that level of authority. so it all worked out. so yogi beres said if it isn't broken don't fix it. and those jsoc had relationships on the ground in the special forces guys were savvy enough that we will not sever any relationships but build on it and supported and wraparound it. that is what they did very effectively. the special ops community found ways to make it work which tribe the special forces argue? they figured it all out. it was a commitment to teamwork by special ops that smoothed out a lot of the peculiar laertes. >> another question from the back. >> thank you. it's great to see you again. talking about the efficacy. i think there is no question that there is anonymity about the tactical success. one of the findings we found was the greatest benefactor of the war may be tehran. sophie look at iraq and syria today the stf

in ne syria. the, let's bring in, i guess, now in norman oklahoma is joshua land is the director at the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma. in ankara. is mirage. yes, he tash director of foreign policy research and seizure, as in tank and covering security and foreign policy issues and in bali is i am and john what al it to mimi, editor of castle re associates. i mean is a specialist on islamic state, a warm welcome to all of you. joshua, i'd like to start with you. the goal was to free civilians in rocca from the grips of iso. but have they been overlooked since being liberated? yes, it has and, and, and in it, in this, you know, sort of blame game. um, yeah, everybody is guilty, but the united states, as an american, i'd like to speak on the, on the part of the united states and the united states put up with the rise of cellophane jihadists state in north eastern syria. right from the early days. and we have this from the documents that have been given out through wiki l

and this is lama state that had grown up in ne, syria, had to dump the arabic opposition in syria and side with a kurdish opposition and the kurdish forces because they were the only ones that were willing to kill this sidney eric's that made up isis. and so america jumped switched horses in the middle of the stream in $21415.00 and began to arm the kurds and the largest and most able kurdish organization was the y p g which turkey considers part of the pay k k of this terrorist organization, so turkey got furious at us strategy, which was to kill, which was the arm these people and train them because it worried about the, the blow back inside turkey itself. so this set these partners against each other. and to day there's, you know, steep competition cuz america is helping the kurds and turkey wants them not to. so turkey is increasingly closing ranks with the offside regime in order to try to collectively get rid of the united states and bring the kurdish region back under some kind of control whether it's target controller outside the 2 are competing powers, but they have a common

and this is lama state that had grown up in ne, syria, had to dump the arabic opposition in syria and side with a kurdish opposition. and the kurdish forces because they were the only ones that were willing to kill this sidney arabs that made up isis. and so america jumped switched horses in the middle, the stream in $21415.00 and began to arm the kurds and the largest and most able kurdish organization was the y p g, which turkey considers part of the pay k k of this terrorist organization. so turkey got furious at u. s. strategy which was to kill, which was the arm these people and train them because it worried about the, the blow back inside turkey itself. so this set these partners against each other. and today there's, you know, steep competition cuz america is helping the kurds and perky wants them not to. so turkey is increasingly closing ranks with the outside regime in order to try to collectively get rid of the united states and bring the kurdish region back under some kind of control whether it's target control or outside the 2 are competing powers, but they have a common g

had to dump the arab opposition in syria and signed with the kurdish opposition. and the kurdish forces. because they were the only ones willing to kill the arabs that made up isis. so america jumped, switched horses in the middle of the stream in 2014, 2015 and began to arm the kurds and the largest and most able kurdish organization was the ypg, which turkey considers part of the pkk of this terrorist organization. so turkey got furious at u.s. strategy which was to kill, which was to arm these people and train them because it worried them about the blowback inside turkey itself. so this set these partners against each other. today, there is steep competition because america is helping the kurds and turkey wants them not to. so turkey is increasingly closing ranks with the assad regime in order to try to collectively get rid of the united states and bring the kurdish region back under some kind of control whether it is turkish control or assad who are competing powers, but they have a common goal, which is to get america out and to undo this autonomous quasi- in

one in syria, one in iraq . we had forces distributed in turkey and jordan and kuwait and cotter and of course in iraq.really 29 contributing nations out of the coalition of i think almost 60 countries and we had you know, kind of strike groups operating and there was a lot of activity going on. and then the other thing to keep in mind is in iraq title 22 authority we had a chief emission, and operating embassy. and balancing all those equities , we had two murders happening, not just one, we were fighting isys but we also had the civil war going on against the assigned regime so thenthe russians showed up as michael said about a week after i did . so getting that command and control structure together enabled us to have more of a unity of effort because isys was not constrained by the line. they view themselves as one single caliphate. they had the advantage of inferior lines and we were on the periphery so getting the unity of command was essential to making progress and once we had that we were able to round

that this was syria that did it. now that's been so much frustration over what happened over the last decade it is a separate investigative body that is in the process of doing attribution. so let's go back and look at some of these old instances and using the scientific method to introduce the responsibility of who did this. they dropped these ordinances from the stockpile. the chemicals are traced to the weapons that we know they made and so they are naming names now in a way that has not been done before so that gives you hope that as frustrating as this has been and as elusive as it's been, there is still a process and there will be accountability. that evidence exists and has been collected. we hope it does fall to the coalitions willing to get things done. releasing the evidence and making these things public so sometimes countries have to act as coalitions or even unilaterally to callout when people do things wrong but hopefully eventually there will be some justice. >> i think we are out of time and we will e

children in camps in syria begging for hours on end. they're asking for tiktok gifts that can be withdrawn as real money. but that money isn't all going to them. we've been following more than 300 accounts going live on tiktok, trying to work out where that money is going. tiktok has got a ferocious appetite for growth. the longer that they spend on the platform, the more revenue they generate. how people living in desperate circumstances suddenly have the phones, internet and tiktok accounts to go live... tiktok is creating an enabling an ecosystem that runs on the exploitation of people's suffering. ..and why so many of the donors come from the uk. over £1,000 would have been put in there and that to them would have been a lot of money. we've uncovered a network of companies around the world, including agencies contracted by tiktok in china, all making money off these displaced families. earlier this year, tiktok users in the uk began to notice something different on the app. suddenly, their feeds were full of live videos of syrian f

and with that partner force for syria that's were isis had the capital. one thing that was striking to me in the course of this research is how early how did this alliance began a what happened and then colonel chris donahue and famed for the three-star commander. and then in northern iraq whose presence was not acknowledged by the us government and he had and meetingie brokered by the kurdish authorities. who were not on good terms but that's a separate w story. and then those that were representing the militia. and then coming up with the concept that could stop volunteers to join that isis caliphate coming down andnd then stopped them in iraq and syria and it is a basic understanding between donahue and not yet approved. and earlier in the day and then to strike is on deal with the syrian kurdsds but they went with the americans and it took some time before the relationship gained traction with the absence of other solutions. but that is the mainstay of us effort and was essential. >> so what is the best estimate you have seen in terms of how many casu

as syria is still not safe for them. it seems many syrians feel the same since 2016, the us has verified nearly 80000 have returned and less than 3000 have signed up for repass ration in recent weeks. that's a small number. those who don't return are from former strongholds of the opposition in syria and could face persecution in pro government areas. and many now live in fear as lebanese authorities say this voluntary repatriation process is only beginning. then there are also sita, ourselves northern lebanon. that l abdul ghani is head of the syrian network for human rights. he says that refugees returns as syria amounts to st. kidnapping, lebanese government, or the total government, or any government. when they say this voluntarily, this is actually a joke, actually, because this refugees or other human rights, organizational, or anyone. we don't know this refrigerators. if there is a warrant against him or not, no one is no actually sol. suddenly he might be or less because he's sick asylum. this is actually the men

in ne syria. the, let's bring in, i guess, now in norman oklahoma is joshua land is the director at the center of middle east studies at the university of oklahoma. in ankara. is mirage. yes, tash director of foreign policy research and seizure. as in tank and covering security and foreign policy issues and in bali is i am and john what al it to me me, editor of castle re associates, i'm in is a specialist on islamic state, a warm welcome to all of you. joshua, i'd like to start with you. the goal was to free civilians in rocca from the grips of iso. but have they been overlooked since being liberated? yes, it has and, and, and in it, in this, you know, sort of blame game. ah. yeah, everybody is guilty, but the united states, as an american, i'd like to speak on the, on the part of the united states and the united states put up with the rise of selfish jihadist state in north eastern syria. right from the early days. and we have this from the documents that have been given out through wiki leaks,

in syria he was in command _ syria. in syria he was in command and - syria. in syria he was in command and his - syria. in syria he was in i command and his strategy involved _ command and his strategy involved air— command and his strategy involved airand _ command and his strategy involved air and ground i command and his strategy - involved air and ground attacks on civilian _ involved air and ground attacks on civilian objects _ involved air and ground attacks on civilian objects and - on civilian objects and infrastructure. - on civilian objects and infrastructure. so - on civilian objects and infrastructure. so we i on civilian objects and i infrastructure. so we are on civilian objects and - infrastructure. so we are more likely— infrastructure. so we are more likely to — infrastructure. so we are more likely to see _ infrastructure. so we are more likely to see more _ infrastructure. so we are more likely to see more of— infrastructure. so we are more likely to see more of this - infrastructure. so we are more likely to see more of this and i

they're talking about thousands of color cases in syria and sixty's in syria as well. so this crisis or this disease, if you like, it's not slowing down, we're getting more cases as each day passes. as you say, it's not just confined to the refugee camps in lebanon. now they know what is the situation elsewhere in the country. and how is the government dealing with it? yes, it is now spreading outside refugee camps, particularly in a poor neighborhoods. i've spoken to a number of doctors who are working with the health ministry. what they're saying is that this is not just the job of the health ministry, but all the different ministries in lebanon need joint action. you're talking about the, the energy ministry, the water ministry. i just want to show you their bathrooms while we talk about what the government here is trying to do. this is a country which with the economy has all but collapse the hell the health care system has all the collapse. i mean, these are the bathrooms that, that people in refugee camps use. there is no united or coordinated response between th

syria one in iraq. we had forces distributed in turkey and jordan and kuwait and cutter and, of course in iraq. we had 29 true contributing nations of almost 60 countries. we had carrier strike groups operating. there was a lot of activity going on. the other thing to keep in mind was we were under iraq title 22. a chief mission. a fully operating embassy. balancing all of those all of te wars happening. we also had the civil war going on against the assad regime. and then the russians showed up about one one week after i did. getting back command and control structure enabled us to have a more unity effort. isis was not constrained, they viewed themselves as one single caliphate.s they had the advantage and we were on the periphery around them. getting unity of effort, unity ofs. command was essential to making progress. once we had that, we were able to round out a campaign plan. three very clear lines of effort with one of which was a priority which was defeating isis. the second most important was b

but they can't do it effectively without actually sending poor planes into syria. so what they've been doing is trying to create a whole and syrian as a funds so that they can actually send warplanes in syria target those development center. so, you know, this says it's an act of war uh, like to play. it's an act of aggression that has been completely ignored by the so called international community. so this is about to ask you, has the been, any reaction is whole from the international community to these that strikes? no, none whatsoever. i mean, there is always a reaction, obviously from russia and from other countries, but from the u. s. u. k. e u. member states. no, there is rarely any reaction. let alone any condemnation is ro, from their perspective, can do what at once provided. they can excuse that with this as the say, the self defense pretext. you expect any prominence organizations to work toward stopping these rates from happening. oh, absolutely, no. i mean, look, israel has acted with impunity and palestine and, and syria and palestine for decades. th

s and then takes the jihadists and the guns and ships them off to syria and that regime change in his barack obama x. plane to jeffrey goldberg in the atlantic in 2012 he said you know the iraq war has empowered iran to don't you think at the got rid of assad in syria that would during iran down and obama said absolutely. jeffrey goldberg said what more can be done to see this through to make it happen sooner and obama said essentially i can't tell you i jeffrey because you e classified -- classified clearance and woody with united states had already launched a covid action campaign in court nation with saudi arabia qatar turkey jordan and israel. to support al qaeda in and iraq in syria but they called the moderate rebels and nothing but the head chopper suicide enemy from iraq war to -- world war ii. that war ended up leaving as john kerry explained in the secretly recorded session that led to the al qaeda forces and isis which split off from al qaeda deciding not to march was to damascus. instead to go east and conquer all of western iraq leading to the islamic caliphate which in t

oh, oh. 000-0000, between 20152018 russian attacks and syria claimed a 1000 civilian lives. these images show the russian army conducting a large scale exercise at military side within syria. thing in all the bombing, their homeowner and russian military equipment has been displayed here is a show of force. putin has modernized the russian military, hers and as using the newest weapons in serious thought. so, ah, i don't know. according to the russian defense ministry bit weapon systems were tested and serial. tens of thousands of russian soldiers came combat experience and syria chechens, that fossil lepeu, if you have been deployed in ukraine, left limb. and now moscow has proposed using syrian fighters as well as this a combat on your claim from a geopolitical perspective, the intervention was a success for russia. after char assad is still empowered and syria, raleigh village is we have accomplished our mission results. dish, congratulations, us. 000-0000, i gotcha. had returned to the world stage image, vincent, new orchestra, performing in front of palmera was shown al

he was also in syria. however, whatever was happening on the battlefield, it had to go to higher military ash alarms and then be reported to the general staff. and so the decision making was complicated and they were losing time. and there was a complete chaos when it came to command. and now today, as a new general gets appointed, somebody who has a very interesting track record in terms of what he did in syria at the same time. this new general is also good friends of cut their off and of precaution, so that that makes things less complicated for put in because that was another move to appease those hardliners. because this general is known for his hard line approach and he executed it in syria. he was successful and, and other important wind is in syria. he was conducting a counter terrorist operation. now, after the annexation, russia has said that the special military operation in the newly annex territories will switch to counter terrorist operation. and now they are appointing this new general to co

he was also in syria. however, whatever was happening on the battlefield, it had to go to higher military ash alarms and then be reported to the general staff. and so the decision making was complicated and they were losing time. and there was a complete chaos when it came to command. and now today, as a new general gets appointed, somebody who has a very interesting track record in terms of what he did in syria at the same time. this new general is also good friends of cut their off and of precaution, so that that makes things less complicated for put in because that was another move to appease those hardliners. because this general is known for his hard line approach and he executed it in syria. he was successful and another important point is in syria. he was conducting a counter terrorist operation. now, after the annexation, russia has said that the special military operation in the newly annex territories will switch to counter terrorist operation. and now they are appointing this new general to comm

he was also in syria. however, whatever was happening on the battlefield, it had to go to higher military ash alarms and then be reported to the general staff. and so the decision making was complicated and they were losing time. and there was a complete chaos when it came to command. and now today, as a new general gets appointed, somebody who has a very interesting track record in terms of what he did in syria at the same time. this new general is also good friends of cut their off and of precaution, so that that makes things less complicated for put in because that was another move to appease those hardliners. because this general is known for his hard line approach and he executed it in syria. he was successful and, and other important wind is in syria. he was conducting a counter terrorist operation. now, after the annexation, russia has said that the special military operation in the newly antics territories will switch to counter terrorist operation. and now they are appointing this new general to c

and so they want to try their luck inside syria, but without a monitoring left. without information on what conditions look like. and science, syria, you can talk about a true, fully informed, voluntary and dignified decision to retire. the whole g s, though the lebanese process is not transparent. security clearances are apparently changed that i have documented cases where people are paying these security clearances and then were disappear and ended up in detention and tortured and detention inside syria. even though they had a clearance to return. a brief quick one. what people returning to, even if they're not running into political issues and detention economic rights infrastructure ability to get a job housing that's been damaged in the warm him, what his life look like economically. i mean it's, it's a dire situation. the situation is really nice. so many people in turn i just placed, you know, people who live there, i know can get access to the tricity for, you know, maybe one hour day. and if you want our week there's a lack of employment. you know, ther

these children were born in exile, their parents escaped the war in syria. the u.n. head commissioner for refugees in lebanon says it does not have enough money to meet the needs, the growing needs. it is underfunded by 60%. 150,000 families are vulnerable if that money is not given by donor nations. these children cannot afford to go to school because you need to pay money to register. the economic collapse in lebanon has hit these people hard. 90% of syrian refugees live below the poverty line. more and more syrian families are getting on those boats attempting to illegally reach europe in search of a better life. they are worried because this is an unwelcoming country. lebanese officials blamed them for the crisis, not for corruption or mismanagement. they say they have become a burden and it should return to syria, even though the u.n. has repeated it is still not safe. yes, some are economic migrants, because the economy is so bad in syria or their home is destroyed, but a significant number come from areas that were hotbeds of the opposition. they cannot return

he's really her stretch in syria which are crucial for, for keeping the iranians at may in syria. and i know yesterday we are to report that they have managed to destroy iranians in stock parcel weapons in syria to, to, to at least 90 percent of toys this like why and so did. there has been very important strategy campaign, but he's really in syria and israel is do not want to jeopardize that by by providing more assertive helps to create mr. know the me, we appreciate your time in your insights tonight. so thank you. we're the horn of africa is suffering its worst drought in 40 years. 4 consecutive rainy seasons have not come in northern kenya, making it one of the driest regions on the continent is particularly tough for communities which rely on their livestock for a living. as the land is become even more barren, hundreds of thousands of animals have died and with their livelihoods gone. the situation for local people. well, it's becoming very, very dire, especially in kenya's for connor county. as d w failings, morning reports to night. oh, felina taylor has 4 children of her

the main job at hand was to create the command and control structure that encompasses iraq and syria, and the required us to put together this special operations tribes they call them underwent command although, they did not all completely come under that coordination but the coordination was enhanced significantly with somee of the teams only method together and of the headquarters and there were some challenges as michael recounts of it in his book. the fire marshal it would not let them move into a building because it did nothe have enough frequent and so wee had to put them in the tents this summer heat of kuwait in the motor pool, and my headquarters backup demands to push cold air under those things but sprinkle heads. >> we hung out together and i'm different because the command and two countries, and you balancing is the fact that we had two different sets of authorities really for use offo force and wanted syria and one in iraq, we had to start out in turkey and innd china and kuwait hand cutter and of course in iraq. in 29 nations out of the coalition, almost 60 countries an

's area, so actually syria is still not safe because of what the fridge is. we're going to save and that for sure why we are think that because this is the environment, trusted, this violation is still going on against it. is it that actually and yet we're still thing refugees return hundreds more leaving 11 and just today. why did they keep going back? all they being forced to i think so, but a sure eyes derby a g at that, but for sure i saw that a fridge is in that they are residential area, light camps in lebanon, or turkey, or jordan, or, or, or, or denmark on any countries. this is 5 or amount will be force actually return. and this is actually violating the international law because this is a custom law, or this is it a god of this? if lieberman 11 under the 5, the reference is a convention or not? so the government actually went pressurized or when this discriminates speech against the refrigerator on holding them responsibility, economic responsibility, or whatever or a card in the election. this is all considered to be a force return actually on the

in syria, there have already been dozens of deaths, nearly 15000 suspected cases. and according to the world health organization, cholera has reached 14 of the 15 governor ritz years of war have severely damaged the water infrastructure as well as the health sector. health system is already weak as a result of the war and the shortage of resources. so an outbreak of any disease will lead to the collapse of the entire health system. official say they are working with international organizations to ensure the country can respond to a public health emergency. but in countries where few can afford clean and bottled water, this may be hard to control. seneca else is eda, a car, your the lebanon, still had hail now to 0. a warning. the parts of northern kenya facing a state of emergency, as drought pushes communities to the brink of starvation, that a tiny nation with a giant project. our country with one of the world's biggest gas reserves, is shifting to green. energy will tell you all about that space after the plane. ah, with the seasons changing as the weather as it

as syria is still not safe for them. it seems many syrians feel the same since 2016, the us has verified nearly 80000 have returned and less than 3000 have signed up for repass ration in recent weeks. that's a small number. those who don't return are from former strongholds of the opposition in syria, and could face persecution in pro government areas. and many now live in fear as lebanese authorities say this voluntary repatriation process is only beginning. then there are also sita, ourselves northern lebanon. it's elise, the prime minister, georgia maloney has won the 2nd of to confident boats in parliament. majority in the senate voted in favor of her coalition government. on wednesday the lower house voted on tuesday maloney leaves. it's the least most far right government since war to emergency rooms in the us and canada are dealing with a search in cases of a common illness that can cause breathing difficulties. 3, the spirit treat sinks.

and he was also in syria. however, whatever was happening on the battlefield, it had to go to higher military ash alarms and then be reported to the general staff. and so the decision making was complicated and they were losing time and there was a complete chaos when it came to command. and now today, as a new general gets appointed, somebody who has a very interesting track record in terms of what he did in syria at the same time. this new general is also good friends of cut their off and of precaution, so that that makes things less complicated for put in because that was another move to appease those hardliners. because this general is known for his hard line approach and he executed it in syria. he was successful and another important point is in syria. he was conducting a counter terrorist operation. now, after the annexation, russia has said that the special military operation in the newly annex territories will switch to counter terrorist operation. and now they are appointing this new general to comma

the repatriation process is being organized by the government in lebanon and syria. they insist this is voluntary, but rights group say it lacks transparency and have documented cases of return needs facing abuse back home, even after receiving security clearance. they also point to policies by the lebanese government that makes life difficult for refugees. between 80 to 90 percent of syrian refugees and lebanon, don't have legal residency in the country, which means that they're subject to arrest and deportation. at the same time, you have politicians from across the political spectrum and up and on. really pick up the as n, a phobic and hateful rhetoric towards refugees. lebanon says it can no longer cope with so many refugees. and officials have gone as far as to accuse the international community of not wanting syrians to return to their country. they believe refusing to redirect 8 to syria is a way to put more political pressure on damascus lives in the sea that are a very limited number of political refugees. we can stubs or partridge ation process because of t

they're scared 11 on and they're scared in syria. it's been an unwelcome in country for, for many of them. lebanese officials have made it clear time and time again that they are a burden. in fact, they even blamed them for the economic crisis going back home. many of them left years ago, they escaped war. some of them are wanted for joining the opposition. others don't want to return because of the mandatory military service. so, but the lebanese authorities say this is voluntary. what is happening today is that syrians have signed up with general security and they wait for security clearance from damascus governments. and once they get that, they return at times i will tell you that not many do get that security clearance this time around nearly 3000 signed up so far, 751 are returning. so the government says it's voluntary. human rights group says there's no evidence to say that this is deportation, or this is not voluntary. but at the same time what they say is that the process lacks transparency. they're not parts of it. and onc

more than 60 deaths in syria and similar and syria, really, it's a similar situation. there's an economic crisis. people cannot afford clean water, they can't afford even medicine. this disease is treatable if you're able to access doctors and hospitals. people here cannot afford not just the syrian refugees, the lebanese as well, cannot afford to go to hospitals to go to doctors. so, so that's why this really threatens to become a very serious public emergency crisis. indeed. all right, then i will leave that for maybe doesn't a honda in the refugee camp in northern lebanon? let's take this home. we can speak to him suzy units, chief of communications in syria, and joins us now from damascus. ever. how serious is this in your view? and what is the urgency of the response? this definite, in very serious, this is yet another threat to the children's lives. children here in syria face number of things that make their lives very difficult. it's the ongoing conflict, lodge displacement, it's the deepening economic crises. a cove it and now colorado. so the situation is ver

the process involves the syria and signing up and waiting for approval. they need security clearance from the authorities in damascus. but human rights groups, as well as the united nations, they, they're concerned, they're not part of the process. in fact, the united nation says that it's still too early for them to promote or facilitate returns to syria because the country is not safe. there is no security guarantees in place security agencies still need to be reformed while human rights groups say that this whole process is just not transparent. because once these people return, there is no way of. 6 finding out what happened to them and, and to know about their well being. in fact, in the past, human rights groups have documented cases where are people who have returned despite the security clearance they receive, they were subjected to abuse. so, and really when you talk to people here, the refugees who are returning, you feel that the uncertainty, you feel the fear in their voices. they say life is difficult to live on. the economist situation is ba

crossing the border back into syria. lebanon is where hundreds of thousands of syrians escaped to during the war. there were mixed feelings and a lot of uncertainty. some don't have homes, nor jobs. but many say it is dire economic conditions that are driving them back. >> i guess it is better to die there than to die here. the situation is difficult here. i can even afford bread for my children. it won't be the same there. at least there we can find a place to feed them. >> the repacked ration processes being organized by the governments in lebanon and syria. they insist this is voluntary. what rights groups say it lacks transparency and have document in cases of returnees facing abuse that home, even after receiving security clearance. they also point to policies by the lebanese government that make life difficult for refugees. >> between 80%-90% don't have legal residency in the country which means they are subject to arrest and deportation. at the same time you have politicians from across the political spectrum in l

ah, in syria, the civil war has been raging since 2011. at the time dictator bashar assad, a longstanding yellow russia, was fighting rebel groups. on september 30th, 2015 flooded me. putin deployed his troops to syria indiscriminately bombing civilian targets, particularly with sequoia fighter jets. the city of aleppo was almost completely destroyed, a heavy he'll send the post by destruction of a city is not a moral problem of recruit. and what is that something he has done before a fair goes, it is, is engross me on russian territory. and a lepeu is just a 2nd. grossinger wasn't lou battle is a syrian photographer. he reports on the massacres perpetrated by the russian army west of damascus between 20152018. mm. soon fugitive, looky, or more dear. this is a picture of a girl and was buried under the rubble that survived. louis to buy in these rich city, february 8 or 2018 model bombing continued threat. dane mosquito numerous other pictures taken that same day hub impact was so strong that the whole building collapsed or the 22 to emerg

whether we see in syria, you haven't ukraine, wherever we sit. there is a responsibility to hold all those individual capital and corporate liabilities. one thing which has been lacking in holding individuals accountable for, for engaging in christianity and conflict. and we've seen cases of executives being charged with providing technology to, to around previously as part of the nuclear program. so we, we have seen individuals executives being charged with, with facilitating crimes. but i think one of the things that we also need to look at the syria context is as we look at reconstruction, there are corporations that are effectively benefiting from conflict. and so it is important to, to continue to, to send that message. is that whether you are an individual, corporation or state, you will be held accountable. now thousands of venezuelan migrants are expected to be stranded at the u. s. next february, i am following a law change by washington. venezuelans illegally crossing into the u. s. will now be immediately sent back to mexico, but the p

as syria is still not safe for them. it seems, many syrians feel the same since 2016, the us has verified nearly 80000 have returned and less than 3000 and have signed up for repatriation in recent weeks. a small number. those who don't return are from former strongholds of the opposition in syria, and could face persecution in pro government areas. and many now live in fear as lebanese authorities say this voluntary repatriation process is only beginning. then there are also sita, ourselves northern lebanon, the u. k. is new leader issue so now has been put to the test at the house of commons. psych faced his 1st 5 ministers questions a day after taking office. he's warned that there are difficult decisions to come. allen fisher explains from london slide finished a little more than 24 hours is taking the top job. richie sooner stood in the house of commons for the 1st time as prime minister from the opposition labor party, an acknowledgement of the historic moment. may i welcome, they prime minister. the fast british,

and this is what you see in syria. we have had this type of a terrorist attacks in the country surrounding iran. iran has been relatively a very safe country among the chaos that we see in the middle east. and whoever is behind this attack is the aiming to get this security from the iranian people. but as i said, this type of tactics doesn't help the cause of mass armine or people who are associated with that event on that point, it does come at a very sensitive time. while there are a lot of protests in the country is, is this sort of attack, does it strengthen the government's line that it has to take serious action to look after security? that's the priority. you know, having chaos in the country, having terrorist attacks is not something that the general public once and this is iranians are like other people. you don't want to have terrorist attacks in doha. you don't want chaos in the ohio. people don't want to see that in london or washing for any other places. iranians are human beings, like other people around

we asked a local journalist to visit a camp in northwest syria. she lives here with her six daughters. they go on tiktok for two or three hours at a time, several times a day. she is saving up to pay for medical treatment for one of her daughters. >> i tell them about my life in the camps and how we lost our home and about my daughter's situation so people will support me. >> he sold his livestock to buy a phone and works with 12 difft families, setting up their accounts, filming and withdrawing the earnings. most of the gifts' values are taken by tiktok before it reaches my account. >> the lion is the biggest gift, it is worth $500. by the time it reaches the shop, it is only worth $155. tikt would not tell us how much they took in commission. we decided to check for ourselves. we sent a journalist $106 in gifts from another account. then, he went to withdraw the money. from the $106 in gifts we donated, tiktok took $73, almost 70%. there was a further 10% charge. people at the man who provide the phones take a cut of what is left. from the $106,

we asked a local journalist to visit a camp in northwest syria. she lives here with her six daughters. they go on tiktok for two or three hours at a time, several times a day. she is saving up to pay for medical treatment for one of her daughters. >> i tell them about my life in the camps and how we lost our home and about my daughter's situation so people will support me. >> he sold his livestock to buy a phone and works with 12 differt families, setting up their accounts, filming and withdrawing the earnings. most of the gifts' values are taken by tiktok before it reaches my account. >> the lion is the biggest gift, it is worth $500. by the time it reaches the shop, it is only worth $155. tiktok would not tell us how much they took in commission. we decided to check for ourselves. we sent a journalist $106 in gifts from another account. then, he went to withdraw the money. from the $106 in gifts we donated, tiktok took $73, almost 70%. there was a further 10% charge. people at the man who provide the phones take a cut of what is left. from the $

the repatriation process is being organized by the governments in lebanon and syria. they insist this is voluntary, but rights group say it lacks transparency and have documented cases of return is facing abuse back home. even after receiving security clearance. they also point to policies by the lebanese government that makes life difficult for refugees. between 80 to 90 percent of syrian refugees and lebanon don't have legal residency in the country, which means that they are subject to arrest and deportation. at the same time, you have politicians from across the political spectrum and up and on. really pick up the as n a so big and hateful rhetoric towards refugees. lebanon says it can no longer cope with so many refugees. and officials have gone as far as to accuse the international community of not wanting syrians to return to their country. they believe refusing to redirect aid to syria is a way to put more political pressure on damascus later in the seats that are very limited number of political refugees. we can stop the repatriation process because of the yo

how does in war zones like syria? let's face it. the western process pointed out that the western bacteria opposition ultimately emerged with al qaeda and who paid for the training and equipping of the theory and rebel outside of recruits the same uncle sam. why are the cia and the pentagon, who vowed to hunt them all down for holding outside the director responsible for the terrorist attacks on us soil? i september 11th, 2001. we're talking billions of us taxpayer dollars that ultimately ended up draining jihadists and no one's taking good old uncle sam to court over that. so the french american method may be different, but the end result is pretty much the same. but you know, it's huge that washington pretending that french company has somehow shocked it. delicate moral facility. we can ask some tragic news from the african continent. way more than 600 people have died and what locals called nigeria is worth fluid in decades. devastating floods have hit the country, damaging infrastructure, destroying roads, houses, and agricultur

as syria is still not safe for them. it seems, many syrians feel the same since 2016, the us has verified nearly 80000 have returned and less than 3000 have signed up for repatriation in recent weeks. that's a small number. those who don't return are from former strongholds of the opposition in syria, and could face persecution in pro government areas. and many now live in fear as lebanese authorities say this voluntary repatriation process is only beginning. then there are also sita ourselves northern lebanon. britain is new need ever. she's not current been put to the test at the house of commons in his 1st prime minister's questions. he defended the reappointment of sue and bravo. and as home secretary of the she was forced to resign just last week due to a data breach. fisher has more. i finished a little more than 24 hours is taking the top job. richie sooner stood in the house of commons for the 1st time, as prime minister was from the opposition labor party, an acknowledgement of the historic woman. my welcome, th