jones is in istanbul for you are dorian what more are you hearing. well you're right there's a force of several hundred drawn up of syrian government militia and iranian backed militia crossed into the afrin enclave very heavily armed but we do get reports of turkish or tillery bombarded this convoy possibly also supported by drones and turkish pro-government media are saying that much of the convoy has now retreated back into a friend it's very difficult to confirm these stories but at the moment it does appear to be a major confrontation going on between these forces trying to get into our front to support this syrian kurdish militia already asked turkey reacted officially you know there hasn't been any reaction officially from over this but it does come just hours after the turkish president. gave a very uncompromising speech to his parliamentarians where he warned that they would now the builder hold a siege around the city of afrin and also who is claiming a diplomatic victory saying that they had thwarted plans by damascus deployed its militia

our correspondent dorian jones is following developments for us from istanbul dorrian turkish and syrian government forces together with their allied militias are now facing off in how serious is this confrontation. well there has the potential to be extremely serious at the moment we are talking about only several hundred militias linked to the massacres entering and joining the syrian kurdish militia in the of the fight against this offensive the numbers are relatively small and given the fact that we're talking about a force of thirty or forty thousand turkish and it's militias that it is supporting involved in this offensive what will be concerned about is is this the beginning of a new development will further militias linked to damascus and iran join this fight along with heavy weapons that they do have including tanks and armored cars at the moment is unclear damascus hasn't made any official statements over this there has been speculation that these militias that join the syrian kurds. are linked and have previously fought with the syrian kurdish militia in the past it's part of

jones and up alimentary studios is our political correspondent nina has joined let me start with you first of the news has been confirmed here in germany what are people there saying about the release of a dead tissue chit what's the latest there well the latest is according to his lawyer court judges have agreed that he should be released pending any. legal proceedings it's unclear where he can leave the country what if any court supervision he will be placed on the it's very unclear the circumstances but we do understand a decision has been made and presumably in the next few hours the court the prison where he's been held will process at the station and he will be ultimately out of prison but why and what the circumstances behind this decision have been no one is sure at the moment and then let me turn to you we've mentioned that the turkish prime minister was here yesterday he had talks a german chancellor angela merkel at that point neither side mentioned anything about dentist release so did this come as a surprise for german authorities that he was in fact and his announcement

jones is standing by now with the latest from istanbul and dorian what are you hearing. well yes you're right the turkish president type one says the ship to very successfully repelled these column of syrian government fighters from entering for in to support the syrian kurdish militia the president said that in his mind the matter is closed saying that these these militias were only acting on their own initiative rather than orders from damascus but despite these claims from our own current images on social media appear to show that some if not all of these fighters have successfully arrived in the main city of afferent were joined by syrian kurdish fighters weaver recordings of them shouting we will defeat the turkish autumn and invaders so it does appear at least some of these forces have successfully entered the syrian city of our for in and joined up with syrian kurdish fighters and we know their motivation behind the turks they do not want this autonomous kurdish region forming along their border there but what is the strategy behind damascus sending these militia

dorian jones, thank you so much for putting it all into perspective for us. let us get the view now from moscow, which we just heard dorian mentioned. our correspondent emily sherwin is standing by with more. emily, russia, we know has backed the syrian regime and the syrian civil war. with afrin in particular, they are treading a difficult line because they have close ties with turkey on the other side. have they weighed in on the situation yet? emily: they absolutely have an they are treading a difficult line. that was clear from the statement the foreign minister made today. he said, it was very much of a balancing act. he said russia understands the kurdish expectations, but it also understands the turkish worries about its border region. and he also defended syria. he said it was very important to retain syria's territorial integrity, which has availed criticism at turkey because serious is turkey had no right to invade its airspace and have not been permitted by the country all. now, it seems russia is trying to balance all three sides in this conflict.

well for more now i'm joined by our correspondent dorian jones in istanbul dorian why does actually is turkey trying to achieve with this mission. into turkey this is part of a major operation much of the turkey and into the clear out the syrian kurdish militia from its border if this if this militia is directly linked to insurgency inside. this plane tens of thousands of lives it has the pressure of the presence of this militia on its borders a bomb acceptable threat and is now trying to create a thirty kilometer deep security first in half for him and then beyond that to other parts of syria and that potentially could put turkey on a collision course with the united states because the united states is backing this kurdish militia in its war against the islamic state the next target of operations off to africa will be the syrian town of beach where u.s. forces are present and the u.s. have said they will not remove those forces so potentially going forward the operation does it send them on bitch them to nato allies have the prospect of facing off. durian how is that news going down i

thank you so much from dorian jones there in istanbul. now to some other stories making news around the world today an earthquake measuring magnitude of six point one has struck mexico u.s. agencies report it's that it's centered in the state of one haka the quake was also felt hundreds of kilometers to the north in mexico city sounding the alarm and sending people into the streets. hungary's prime minister viktor orbán has called for a global alliance against migration this as his right wing party began campaigning ahead of an april election that it's expected to win or bonn has pushed this anti immigrant anti immigration stance ahead of his bid for a third consecutive term. five women have been killed in a shooting at a christian church in the city of kissee that in russia's republic of dagestan a twenty two year old man fired at people leaving an evening service he was shot and killed at the scene so-called islamic state group said it was behind the attack . the u.s. special council has indicted thirteen russians accused of meddling i

of course by the dorian jones on the story for us tonight from istanbul dorian as always thank you very much. still to come on the day a nazi era churchill but striking a sour note we'll tell you why the locals in a german village are divided over whether a swastika has a place in a church bell. well yet another attempt to stop the fighting in syria long enough to help civilians as phil first it was a u.n. cease fire passed last weekend that all sides are ignoring today a russian ordered five hour pause in the shelling in eastern damascus lasted no rush accuses rebels in the besieged enclave of launching attacks but the u.s. says it was russian backed syrian forces who kept showing the rebels at the end of the day no way it was delivered and no civilians were able to get out. today the skies over eastern were supposed to fall silent but a five hour humanitarian pause brought little relief to besieged residents in the rebel held on klav strikes reported during the polls and observers say that syrian government won't planes resumed the bombing as soon as it ended. we pray to god for help

ok now let's get more on that story from our correspondents there monitoring this this is dorian jones in istanbul and nina at our parliamentary studios let me start with you nina being us up to date as to what do we know about dennis you just impending release still now. what is coming through now is that there seem to have been a lot of meetings behind closed doors in actual fact secret trips by. german germany's acting foreign minister who in the last ten days traveled to rome to meet president at a one there who was there to meet the pope and. ask president on they discussed the case then as you tell a week later. then allegedly went to istanbul to continue those talks to try and find a solution in this case that had strained relations between the two countries so much now is it my galileo you have to remember is in a terribly weak situation himself as foreign minister lots of people don't want him to continue the job in this new government so he apparently put a lot of pressure and he used his current role to bring this matter forward this case that have become the symptom or the

jones is standing by in istanbul and nina is at our parliamentary studios starting with you nina first tell us more about what is known about dennis you chills impending release well first of all armories are think it's important to remind everybody why this case is so important for the german turkish relations and then this huge shell had become something like the face of everything that the german government considered wrong in the current turkish system and so the german government whenever they talked about who they say was imprisoned for political reasons and the german government criticized that he was in prison without a formal charge they also meant the other five german citizens who are in jail who the german government say are in jail for political reasons what we do know is that about an hour and a bit ago. so dennis who tells employer tweeted that he was in fact going to be released there have been reactions by german politicians including the foreign minister is it not goblin who says it's a good day he is very happy for dennis and his family but of course we've got slight

or for more on this now i'm joined by our correspondent dorian jones who is in istanbul dorian what is turkey's goal with this mission its military mission known as operation on its branch. well the goal is to clear this syrian kurdish militia from turkey selvan border nischelle operation is in affray and where they plan to create a thirty kilometer deep security zone but beyond that they found they plan to expand it much beyond much of turkey some border several hundred kilometers where the syrian kurdish militia are based because they accuse this militia of supporting a kurdish insurgency inside turkey a decades long battle as claim tens of thousands of lives this is a clear and present danger to the country and that is why they need to remove it bought this force east on lead back by the u.s. u.s. have around two thousand soldiers deployed with the kurdish militia across the turkey southern border and many of them are based in the syrian town of man beach which is the next object of turkey's operation of the afrin that brings the threat of a real confrontation between turkey and uni

military which it says is a terrorist group or for moral the let's bring in dorian jones in istanbul durian hasn't been confirmed that syrian troops will now support the kurds the syrian kurds and offering against the turkish military. well that is what syrian state t.v. are announcing they say a deal has been reached with the syrian kurdish militia and that syrian forces regime forces will be entering the afrin enclave within hours. nature of that deployment is how big that the point is is still very unclear but it is expected that they will be deployed mainly to secure the syrian turkish front here what beyond that has been agreed between the two sides is still very unclear and but we do know that there has been several days of intense negotiations leading up to this crucial deal. tert the turkish military have pushed into northern syria if syrian troops now come to back the kurds against them what would this mean for the turkish military. well this is the real big question and the major dilemma now facing much of turkish forces are being deployed across his turkish syrian prantera

jones is in istanbul during what are you hearing well we are getting reports that a force of maybe several hundred possibly five hundred. syrian backed militias and possibly elements of his blog which is linked to iran have deployed in a large convoy into the afternoon they appeared according to video released on social media to be carrying heavy weapons even possibly tanks have been deployed with this heavy force it is now our latest escalation and it's very worrying situation how has turkey reacted to this development we haven't heard any initial reaction from from the moment it is a fast breaking story but this comes as following the turkish president. issuing a very uncompromising speech promising to laid siege to free and promising a quick victory and this comes the following him speaking of the day before with his russian and the reigning counterparts telling basically that they would not tolerate any the point of damascus backed forces in in support of the syrian kurdish militia it does appear that the math because has now called the bluff so what does this mean a potential war betw

jones in the stumble and nina in our parliamentary studios here in berlin during turning now firstly we've got confirmation that the announcement has been made about denis your cheers here in berlin what are you hearing about this there in istanbul well yes his lawyers have asked confirming that a release order has been issued by the charges but it does appear that he will be pending any legal actions against him and there are some reports of them has already been prepared against him as usual which could possibly call for up to eighteen years in jail now that is just reports that are going across social media but it does appear the nature of this release order doesn't seem to be linked to any future legal proceedings so at the moment things are very unclear and the situation is an ongoing developing situation but it doesn't appear that he is completely free of all risk of charges at the moment according to the nature of this release order that is being issued today by charges you know here in berlin what do you make of the timing of this announcement that dennis is to be released. i

jones is in istanbul dorian what more are you hearing where you are well turkish president one has spoken about this incident he's told to play it down he says turkey should tillery opened fire on these columns of militia heading towards the syrian kurdish enclave and he claims that they will forced to retreat back out of a free and he said that these militias who are acting on their own malt with the support of damascus and he said the incident is now closed for now this follows reports of large numbers of militia many believed to be linked to the damascus regime as well as the iranian backed militia had announced that they would joining the syrian kurdish militia the y.p. in its efforts to resist the turkish offensive into ok well daryn what do you make of this kind of conflicting reporting reporting that because yesterday we heard from the syrian state television that they are supporting the kurds fight against turkey who's telling the truth here. well it is it is an example of this ongoing tensions and disinform ation and information put out by both sides the turkish president earlier

well more reaction from turkey we're joined now by our correspondent dorian jones who's on the story for us tonight from istanbul good evening to you dorian and so i have to ask you did turkey and we know they're angry but did they really expect an extradition today. well if you speak them officially they said yes they say this is was a critical test of one of its nato allies in the was the turkish prime minister been the yield room and once again a european country has failed in its commitment to fighting terrorism but behind the scenes i think that there was they was little hope that there would be a chance of selling muslim being extradited to turkey there was talk of some possible deal being raised we check before it is to check nationals that are being held in the turkish jail after being convicted of being linked to this syrian kurdish militia the y.p. with turkey considers a terrorist organization that they could be exchanged in. a muslim being sent back to i think there was little expectation even thought would succeed i'm not think the turkish prime minister also gave insigh

jones in istanbul we're going to move on to other news we'll see. later in this program again. coming up in the show is martin scholtz resigns germy social democrats and doors and ryan also has a party leader what can she do for our very fractured social democratic party. both and all about cash in kuwait mark is here now with the latest from an international fund raising conference for iraq right brian iraq is open for investors that is the message officials up pushing at an international donors conference currently underway in kuwait iraq is hoping to lure major investment from its allies aimed at restructuring the country after decades of conflict the united states has already pledged a loan was three billion dollars from ex-im bank but that's only a fraction off what is needed numerous iraqi cities were reduced to rubble in the war against islamic state it will take time and lots of money to breathe life back into iraq rebuilding a country that looks like this doesn't come cheap iraq estimates the cost that close to ninety billion dollars and th

for more on this now i'm joined by our correspondent dorian jones who is in istanbul dorian what is turkey's goal with this mission its military mission known as operation on a branch. well the goal is to clear this syrian kurdish militia from turkey solvang border nischelle operation is in africa where they plan to create a thirty kilometer deep security zone but beyond that they found they plan to expand it much beyond much of turkey's some border several hundred kilometers where the syrian kurdish militia are base because he accuses militia of supporting a kurdish insurgency inside turkey a decades long battle is claimed tens of thousands of lives he says this is a clear and present danger to the country and that is why they need to remove it this force is strongly backed by the u.s. u.s. have around two thousand soldiers deployed with the kurdish militia across the turkey southern border and many of them are based in the syrian town of mom beach which is the next object of turkey's operation after afrin that brings the threat of a real confrontation between turkey and the united states b

for more on this now i'm joined by our correspondent dorian jones who is in istanbul dorian what is turkey's goal with this mission its military mission known as operation on a branch. well the goal is to clear this syrian kurdish militia from turkey selvan border nischelle operation is in africa where they plan to create a thirty kilometer deep security zone but beyond that they found they plan to expand it much beyond much of turkey's some border several hundred kilometers where the syrian kurdish militia are base because he accuses militia of supporting a kurdish insurgency inside turkey a decades long battle as claimed tens of thousands of lives he says this is a clear and present danger to the country and that is why they need to remove it this force is strongly backed by the us us have around two thousand soldiers deployed with the kurdish militia across the turkey southern border and many of them are based in the syrian town of mom beach which is the next object of turkey's operation after afrin that brings the threat of a real confrontation between turkey and the united states becaus

months sorry i beg your pardon i think i'm just hearing that we have lost dorian jones in istanbul really trying to reestablish that line a little but let me return now to you nina has now i think we still hearing reports that in fact all the dead this year chile is free they are other political prisoners german turkish prison still being held in custody what look at you tell us about that well international organizations are saying that some one hundred fifty five journalists are held in prison that's international internationally speaking and five german citizens are among those who are held in prison for political reasons and germany considers them to be regular respected journalists those people are also among the people that germany german authorities want to press free and in fact everybody including tonsil americal has stressed that the release of them is you can only ever be the first step ryvita has a thank you very much for now let me now draw in another for correspondents who is following that story and that is melinda crane she is at the munich security conference and she's be

reporting from istanbul thank you dorian. now to some other stories making news around the world in bahrain a court has sentenced human rights activist now be over a job to another five years in jail where job had criticized the saudis involvement in the year many civil war on twitter he's already serving a two year sentence for voicing criticism of the bahraini government on t.v. . the u.s. state department says north korea canceled a planned meeting with vice president mike pence at the last minute he was supposed to hold talks with government representatives during the olympic games in south korea. reportedly scrapped the idea after pence denounced the north's human rights abuses. brazil's senate has approved a decree that authorizes the army to take command of police forces in the state of rio de janeiro of the measure comes in a bid to curb violence driven by drug gangs brazil's president michel tomar said they have virtually taken over urban rio. to the u.s. where last week's mass shooting at a florida high school has i

you never used during jones has been following the story from the very beginning for us he joins us now from istanbul dorian what can you tell us about them as you gel and the conditions of his imprisonment. there's been a very difficult year for dinner much of it has been spent in solitary confinement in a sixteen square metres cell where the only thing he could see from the window was a brick wall he spoke quite a motive lein statement smuggled to his lawyers where he said solitary confinement is almost like torture now he has been transferred into general circulation now and he has been meeting with other prisoners he's even been starting to write accounts of the situation faced by those prisoners some of the being held for decades in jail or to jail the particular for him is that it doesn't appear to be no end in sight given the fact that he can be held for up to five years in jail before appearing in front of a call door and other german citizens have also been arrested on political of charges and turkey they've been freed what's different about the huge oh. well i think one big fa