they are mainly in eastern syria. the area is dominated by groups deposing president bashar al-assad, a russian ally. also hit, the town, during the second day of russian air strikes. there are concerns as to whom they are targetting. this, according to activists, was the result of wednesday's attacks. civilian casualties as bombs from dropped in homs and hamas. and focused on posts not hold bill i.s.i.l. >> translation: we urged before that the russians are intervening in syria not to fight i.s.i.l., but to prolong the life of bashar al-assad, supporting the killing on a daily basis of the syrian civilians. >> saudi arabia criticized the russian raids and demanded that moscow stop them. western governments, including the u.k. and the u.s. questioned president vladimir putin's intentions. the russian government dismissed the concerns as part of a propaganda war. it said i.s.i.l. positions are targets, along with added groups, and added layers of confusion to a complex civil war. >> we want syria democratic, united, se

in syria, we are in a tougher win. in syria, there's no good options. i think i might be getting to what your answer is. as a military man, is it better to go with the devil you know. >> i'm afraid that as bad as bashar al-assad is, a tyrant, torturer of my own, the vast majority of crisis, bashar al-assad is not as bad as i.s.i.s. is, with russia backing bashar al-assad, it's harder for bashar al-assad to beoverthrown and some pd kind of negotiated solution with the alawites, with bashar al-assad's people is going to be the only possible solution. one thing that you made a point is some are saying they are taking a lead on something. they decided they do not share the goal of regime change. the problem is they seem to target the american backed moderate rebels. who you say we should have been involved with in 2023 and 13. that is -- 2012 and "13. we are arming and training bombing. >> and we have remarkably little leverage against russia in that scenario. there is some hope that russia will be bogged down in this fight, that it's going to be another af

forces in syria? senator mccain said earlier today the word not authorized. [ inaudible ] redouble your efforts to try to get that passed in congress. >> that's a great question. and here is the answer. congress in 2001 did give executive branch authorization to take this action, and there's no debating that. what the president has said he would welcome is congress passing an authorization to use military force to be more specific about what they are authorizing. the administration actually wrote the bill for them. we wrote our own piece of legislation that congress could pass that would give the administration more authority to carry our our anti-isil campaign. and the president of the united states sent some of his top national security advisors to congress to testify under oath in open hearings to explain. and after all of those efforts the president saying he would welcome congress's voice in this debate, having the administration write the legislation, to send it to congress, sending his secretar

who do we want to run syria? we kind of, like, want to construct a dog later that we're going to back but the russian position of we want assad has the virtue of being very simple and the virtue of being the existing government. it's a lot easier to support a government that exists than to try to drew ate one from whole -- create one from whole cloth. the russian deployment in syria in some ways mirrors ours in iraq. they're making sure the capital doesn't fall, training and equipping, bombing. no indication of ground troops in the immediate future into the fight. so you can kind of see while the purposes are very different the tactics we're using in both dissimilar. >> but john if assad was the proximate cause of the syrian civil war how do you have a country run by him? where will his enemies go? >> well, i think assad may be part of a transitional solution and the russians have said they want to see him remain in power. but in the long run, if there are some remnants of his regime and assad himself is gone, th

and fighting jihad in syria. a person was initially happy about jihad happening in syria, but when he started seeing his younger people fleeing to syria, he said, if you go to syria, there's not going to be enough people stay in the north caucasus to fightpeople stay inh caucasus to fight jihad. fatwa preventing people from fighting in syria. including chechnya and the north caucasus. there have been quite a lot of forces from afghanistan around the world who came and joined the north caucasus insurgency. and there have been several americans in the caucasus as well who were fighting with chechnya and forces against the russian regime. but there has not been the length that we -- or the policies against the u.s. or the lengths that we see in insurgency or terrorism in the u.s.. right now i think the biggest threat is we will see the repeat situation, although a more radicalized situation post syria as what we saw post afghanistan mujahedin who did not have any reasons to stay and anymore afghanistan would go and

. -- of syria. that is not our position we , believe that some parts of the anti-assad opposition belong as part of the political transition going forward. that is one of the reasons -- that is the central reason why the russian approach is doomed to fail. i hope that they come over to a point of view where they try to pursue their objectives in a different way, that makes more sense first of all, and second of all, is one in which we can share to some extent, and therefore work in a common way, we are not there yet. i think it is worth trying to get to that point. >> what is the responsibility for that as we heard in the past? i believe you testified on the hill that the coalition has responsibility to protect the opposition forces, particularly those trained by the u.s.. but a larger forces, what is the coalition responsibility if they are under airstrikes that the russians -- by the russians? ashton carter: we have conducted air operations against isil, and every other target that is not our prac

support for rebels in syria in the escalation of chaos in syria, was able to reform itself in syria and then come back into iraq, which was it's goal all along was to destroy that border between the two countries and create the caliphate. blair is right that the people who did the invasion of 2003 do bear a heavy responsibility for what is happening now, not just in terms of the islamic, but in terms of the war that followed in 2003, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, the fact there still isn't properly electricity supply in baghdad, the fact that now when you talk to people in the streets of baghdad, they all hit the british and americans. many of them urine for saddam, and that is shocking because saddam hussein was a monster and there's nothing wrong with getting rid of him, but the way they got rid of him and the way they behave when they got rid of him led to all of this chaos in iraq, which has looked -- spread to syria. amy: you live in europe now, but what do you think coming back to the u.s., you are the former chief -- middle east correspondent for abc news, of the u.s. cove

crisis in syria. view rusher's involvement in syria? >> he is going to support his hezbollah.d and they're going to do that so in any negotiations in the future of syria they will have greater leverage. what is important to the west and our allies is that we are clear that we are going to obtain our own leverage to have an outcome that is reasonable. if you have an outcome in syria, or you try to produce an outcome, with al-asad staying for anything other than the transitional time, there will be a problem. will be a confrontation between the coalition and russia, that is inevitable? >> i hope not, and hope they get a strong, clear message. it is not accept the ball they attack -- not acceptable they attack people that are part of the opposition we support and represent the majority of the people are in a syria. we know the problem in many of these countries is you have a minority with power for a long time. the majority has risen up and wants a new constitution. ago, despiteears the terrible relation

out of syria. what, what would you, how would you kwanfy the number of refugees that would like to come to the united states? what figure would that be? >> well, they don't get to come if they'd like to come to the united states. i think it's probably a very large number, but not 100%. because most refugees usually want to go home. >> no, i'm not saying that, i just want to know what do you think is the number. >> the uancr does is they believe that of 15 million refugees that they're concerned about that about 1 million are people who are suitable for resettlement in other countries. >> so how does this come about? does someone leave syria in order to be considered by us? they have to, and is there any type of prioritization, if you're a family member or first in line or first to sign up? >> first you have to qualify to be a refugee, and. >> what is the -- >> based on the legal definition which were those five factors. well-founded fear of persecution. and then we seek to resettle the people who a

john mccain blasted obama's syria policy. -- russia's intervention in syria will prolong and complicate this horrific war and the main beneficiary will be isil, which has set off the ethnic and sectarian divisions fostered by the al-assad regime. myis tragic, it is tragic, fellow americans, that we have reached this point. the syrian conflict that is killed more than 200,000 people, created the worst refugee crisis in europe since world war ii, spawned a terrorist army of tens of thousands and now created a platform for a russian autocrat to join with iranian theocrat to prop up a syrian dictator. it did not have to be this way. but this is the inevitable consequence of hollow words, red lines crossed, tarnished moral influence, leading from behind, and a total lack of american leadership. ,my: professor rashid khalidi respond to senator mccain and the defense secretary ashton carter. >> there is so much to say. i think american policy in syria has been an absolute mess, but i think the thing the u.s. had to do at the same time is issued have been trying to deal directly with both the i

(radio switching frequencies) >> mix fm syria. >> mix fm syria, syria, syria. >> new music first. (pitbull's song "fun" playing) >> smith: the first thing that surprises me is the jolt of an american pop tune on a local english language radio station. this i don't expect. >> ♪ somewhere we can go and no one else can find ♪ loosen up your body, baby come undone ♪ loosen up your body, baby come undone... ♪ >> smith: i am struck by how relaxed and ordinary things appear. damascus has always been a secular city: a mix of muslims, christians, druze, and alawites, many with european aspirations. but while these were the kind of images so familiar before the crisis, i did not expect them now in the middle of a brutal war. men playing games. young girls enjoying the evening. good syrian food. (dance music playing) and in a rooftop bar, lots of drinking and dancing. it may not seem like it, but the fighting is only a few minutes away. (dance music continues) when we arrived in july 2015, the regime controlled just a narrow strip along the western edge of the country. much of the re

and iraq, but into syria. so assad is not a counterterrorism partner. >> but, but, and he said that. putin, i mean i asked him that very question. a lot of people believe that assad is a magnet to attract near recruits to isil. he said, i mean, most people believe that, many people believe that you ought to be able, and secretary kerry has said this, not to immediately take assad out. but agree that you want to transition him out, but then near term, we need him for that effort. is that the administration's position? because that's clearly what secretary kerry has said unless you correct me. well, i think what i would say, i'm not trying to say we need him for that effort. because assad is not going against isil. now if the russians want to make some constructive contributions to the fight against isil, i think that's a good thing. i would say, however, there's no need to reinvent the wheel. the president began and led and continues to lead and will convene again tomorrow, the coalition of 60 some odd nations,

syria, it is not the same way, and we were not present in syria. but, as you know, there have been a lot of terrorist attacks in france and we had precise information showing that some elements were coming from syria. from syria. charlie: some of the terrorist elements had connections? f.m. fabius: yes, and organizations, and all that. the french president, and i thought was completely right, decided to send planes to know what to take place on the ground. he said a few weeks ago, if we daesh is preparing things, we will strike. we have done it sunday. charlie: one strike? it is a new turn of a france -- events for france, too. you are joining a coalition. f.m. fabius: no, no. charlie: you are doing is independently. f.m. fabius: we are acting in the framework of self-defense. when you know there are people who are preparing to kill french people, you cannot sit like that. that is the reason we have this shift, and it is right. charlie: president putin says the reason i'm in syria is entirely legal because the president of syria asked us to come in

, its action, air campaign in syria. what we were told is that in september, russia made an offer to the united states and the offer was maybe the united states should send a delegation of military experts to moscow to talk about cooperation in syria and also that maybe russia should send the prime minister to washington, d.c. to talk about the same sort of things. now sergey lavrov announced earlier today when he was speaking that the americans have been thinking about this for a while and today they have rejected the proposal, rejected the offer. he had some other words, too. he said that essentially, this kind of behavior from the united states is part of its efforts to undermine what he and what the russian government believe are russia's efforts to provide a sort of anchor of global stability. let's listen to what he had to say about that. >> does russia want more cooperation with the united states in syria? >> it does. i mean, that's its line, anyway. it tries to promote itself in global theaters, global arenas as

airstrikes in syria has dropped. the train and equip program was halted just as it was starting to show some results. the administration scrambled fop a decompression agreement with the russians that spells out more of what we will not do in syria. indeed this agreement means the united states is now moving out of the way and watching as has russian aircraft, together with iranian and has below ground forces attack and killki brave syrians, many of whom our nation has supported and encouraged. this is not only harmful to our interest, it is immoral. what we must do to hasten the end of the conflict in iraq, we must stop asad's use of airpower and bombs which are the major killer of the syrians. we must establish regions where civilians can be states and do what is necessary to protect these areas in the air and on the ground. we must recognize that putin is not interested in a negotiated solution in syria that favors u.s. interest. we should instead impose real cost on russia not just in syria but everywhere we have

, in syria, obviously, mr. bashar al-assad, we shall discuss him, the same, but we were not present in syria. but as you know there have been a lot of terrorist attacks in france, and we had precise information showing that some elements were coming from syria. therefore -- >> rose: some of the terrorist elements had connections to syria? >> yes, and attacks and preparation and all that stuff and, therefore, the french president is still undecided and i think is completely right to send planes for civilians and knowing exactly what was taking place on the ground, and he said a few weeks ago, if we see that daesh is preparing things against us, we shall strike. we have done it -- >> rose: it's a new turn of events for france to join a coalition to airstrikes -- >> not coalition. >> rose: you're doing this independently because you had information from your own intelligence sources? >> exactly. but we are acting in the framework and not only in a legal aspect of self-defense, article 51 of the u.n. when you know

troops to syria. president obama reverses course authorizing special forces commandos to deploy to syria and assist in the fight against isis on the ground. opening yet another war front in the middle east. >>> iran at the table. america's adversary joins the us, russia and others in syrian peace talks finding common ground. but deep divides remain over the future of the syrian dictator. will the u.s. be able to force out bashar al assad? >>> plucking the peacock. the republican national committee suspending its debate with nbc. the gop fuming over the candidates' face-off on cnbc, calling the tone of the questioning, "petty and mean-spirited." tonight, cnn is learning what the campaigns are doing in response. >>> i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." >> announcer: this is cnn, breaking news -- >>> we're following the breaking news. a major shift by president obama now formally authorizing u.s. boots on the ground in syria for the first time to help fight isis forces. the white house says

the actual topic, the threat of extremism in russia, i think syria does enter this simply because syria has become a training ground for the .ihadists from central asia my point was we may be seeing something more threatening, which is the russian muslim arerities inside russia beginning to go that route. they have a very significant inside syria.dy frankly, if we thought the therens were a problem, are one million of them, and there are 6.5 million taught tars and bosh gears, and another 5-6,000,000 inside russia, including migrants from central asia who are constantly going back and forth. central asia is completely penetrated by isis recruiters and isis propaganda. talking of danger to the united states, those things are rarely contained within natural borders . this is one of the offshoots, regardless of what putin does and what we do. >> do you agree or disagree? mr. saradzhyan: i agree. the primary threat that emanates assad is nota weather stays for a bit longer -- from that area is not whether assad stays for a bit longer. >> do you think he poses challenges to our efforts in sy

in syria. we gather here, the russian president, vladimir putin, has held bilateral talks with the french president and with germany's angela merkel. the message from the west, we believe, is that the west strongly feels that the continued air strikes by russia would only worsen the situation; that they are indiscriminate. the response we believe from the russian side is that only by throwing weight and support behind assad, and essentially helping assad to get the job done, will there be any meaningful solution, any real end to the conflict in syria. >> and another -- another crisis they are talking about, of course, in eastern ukraine. four leaders there talking about that. what is likely to come out of that meeting? >> reporter: before the syria situation somewhat eclipsed the normandy four meeting about the future of finding a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict and tense situation in eastern ukraine, normandy four had pretty much been focused on implementing the minsk two agreement.

most are in syria. the syrian opposition said bombs were dropped in homs and latakia and focused on command posts not held by isil. if it falls to the opposition, damascus could be separated from the assad-held west and tartus and latakia. >>> syrian opposition leader said strikes have killed 36 civilians. >> they are intervening to prolong the life of bashar al-assad and support the killing of civilians. >> suliman is from the syrian civil defense. he joins us by skype from istanbul. thank you for being on al jazeera. the russian defense ministry said operations in syria are targeting isil positions but your organizations say civilians have been the target did. >> our organization has responded yesterday in the northern countryside of homs to the following attacks. there istacks on dakarani. it targeted a public market. another attack happened on the talbisa city and the attack targeted a building where there is bread distribution point. the third attack targeted a restaurant and civilians' homes. anot

coalition over syria. according to what the special command sends out every day, there have been almost none in syria over the last two, whereas they do continual over iraq. why have airstrikes come to a minimum over syria over the last few weeks? secretary ernest: i would direct the question to central command. they're making the day-to-day decisions about what strikes should be carried out. scenariosa variety of to describe this. there could be bad weather, or it could be based on intelligence on the ground. i would encourage you to touch base with central command. richard. reporter: i don't want you to get into details, is this train, advice, and assist mission, is it similar to what the u.s. forces are doing with the afghan forces against the taliban? secretary ernest: it is always hard to draw comparisons because the situations and each country are so different. i think, generally speaking, that would be a fair comparison to make. it does effectively differentiate between the combat role that the amer

we're five years into the syria war and there are ngos on the ground and syria groups. it's hard to prove each incident, but according to the turkish prime minister's speech, russia has hit two isis targets out of 57 air strikes. according to u.s. intelligence assessments reported in the wall street journal, russia is targeting the u.s.-backed rebel groups. i mean, we can see what the strategy is, and russia is not exactly denying that they're hitting western-supported groups. they're saying is all the terrorists are the same. but for the different powers supporting sanctions inside syria, the sarngnctions are important. >> thank you j josh. >> severe smog blanketed parts of china this weekend. let's bring in pedram javaheri. >> a lot of health quality concerns over this region. we know about 200,000 people per year according to the world health organization lose their lives because of air quality issues and half of that is out of eastern china. i want to show you video out of this region. this is considered hazardous, and few places in our planet in europe and north am

i want to start with the events in syria. critics of the administration on capitol hill suggest that the administration has no coherent syrian policy. now with the entry of russia into this whole mix, what are those critics -- power the responding and where do they think the united states should go? >> yeah. i think they think that this is the consequence of long-running lack of attention from the administration and from not doing enough. people like john mccain think the administration has been asleep at the wheel for years now. i think they see this as another sign of long-running weakness by the white house. >> i think the critics are happy to see that there is even more chance to make some changes because i think they have been frustrated by a lack of action on the administration's part. i am not sure the administration has the answer to this very complex problem. introduction of airstrikes is sure to upset the apple cart. i think dianne feinstein, however, said that she thought there could be a positive side to this. you

these people calm in syria. they don't want to be identified for their own safety but they say life in thailand is a constant struggle. >> you cannot work, you cannot have a life. what will you do from where you will have income? how will you support your family? >> since a bomb attack at a shrine, police have conducted hundreds of raids, jailing those they believe are immigrants. >> during that time if we have the law that would allow them to stay temporarily they would not be concerned bd pressure all the time. >> this group has entered into an agreement to warn about the plight of refugees. 1951 refugee convention meaning asylum seekers have no time here. they wade for the u.n. to repatriate them in the country. the government acknowledges, something need thes to chai prospect. >> all nations need to work together. we have to have solutions for this. >> in the meantime, slum seekers simply have to wait for their lives in hold and spent largely. >> racist hate crime, a 21-year-old man killed a teacher and a st

and once inside syria. we have looked at how displacement has evolved, how the situation of refugees has changed over time. and how funding has been drawing up. the drivers of displacements are multiple. toall remember the images -- the development of a military operation by the assad regmieimo the rise of extremist groups and to the deteriorating social economic situation in syria which has made life unsustainable for people. today, when you talk to refugees in southern turkey and jordan on what is the primary reason why they moved, they always have the same answer -- it is the barrel over markets, over schools, over medical facilities. reported that the month of august saw the largest number of medical personnel killed by these shellings and barrel bombs. the response to the crisis in neighboring countries has been remarkable. erehave seen very few -- wh borders have remained open for so long. work governments have accepted the refugees spread out along the population. living in an are urban setting mixin

involvement in syria. including u.s. boots on the ground for the first time in the war-torn country. >> the president does expect that they can have an impact in intensifying our strategy for building the capacity of local forces inside of syria to taking the fight on the ground to isil in their own country. >> the plan involves a small number of special operations forces stationed in northern syria along with increased air strikes against isis. the announcement coming as secretary of state john kerry in vienna right now working with international players to as he puts it, quote, chart a course out of hell. this is what the secretary of state had to say just a few moments ago. >> the answer to the syrian civil war is not found in a military alliance with assad from our point of view. but i am convinced that it can be found through a broadly supported diplomatic initiative aimed at a negotiated political transition consistent with the geneva communique. >> nbc's ron allen is at the white house for us this afternoon. ron,

commandos are heading to syria. officials say a small number of special operations forces will be deployed to the north of the country. fewer than 50 troops will work with local ground forces in the fight against isil. mike viqueira is live at the white house. good afternoon. this appears to be a shift from what president obama kept saying that he would never put boots on the ground in syria. >> reporter: it's clearly a shift, although the white house is going out of its way to down play that aspect of it. you are right, the president, this proposes a problem for him political and if you look at what is happening on the ground in syria, and you can see why they are making this move. the white house is going to play this down as within the parameters of the policy that stands right now. they will point to a commando raid that happened in iraq that freed kurdish prisoners. but the failed policy of the administration to train and equip the moderate opposition in places like turkey and saudi arabia has largely failed. a

either in iraq or syria. that the war against isis and both countries is at a stalemate and something else has to be done. and those kinds of recommendations don't have the specific recommendations but the recommendations to get the u.s. military more active involved, not necessarily combat in all phases, but working directly with the indigenous forces fighting isis on the ground with, you know, some american support embedded with those forces, that has long been one of the recommendations made to the white house and for josh earnest to use the phrase that you pointed out a couple of times, at least not today, indicates that it is under active consideration. and i would think that many military officials would be encouraged at at least that their message is finally getting across perhaps. >> we want to bring in from istanbul richard engel watching this closely and first brought us this information earlier this morning. when you heard what was announced based on what you were able to glean ahead of time, what

we are about to sell out syria. assad is being reinforced by russia, iran and hezbollah and the millions of people in syria who want to replace assad because he's butchered their families have nobody standing behind them. so john kerry is about to turn syria over to russia and iran. guess how these negotiations are going to end when assad has no military threat against him any longer because of russia and iran? iran's influence in syria is going to be through the roof. russia's presence in the region is going to be enhanced. assad is going to be left in place or a proxy of assad will be left in place to our national security interests and to those of the people of syria. >> let me also ask you about this summit of candidates, republican candidates rebelling against the republican national committee and the debates. what do you want your representatives to argue for and how do you argue against the front-runners, because you might have different interests. they might want fewer debates, you probably want more. >> wel

reality we had no plan for syria. i don't know what the plan for syria. i don't know what the solution is. i also know the white house doesn't have solution. he is trying to manage something up until leaves and next president will deal with it. andrea: we spent $500 million to train five freedom fighters that handed our weapons to al nusra. that is what we've done so far, besides creating chaos. harris: what are we waiting for next? you see empty lecturn. usually bottom of the hour at this point every day press secretary white house to step up make a statement if he has one off the top and take a whole lot of questions. sop of the questions on the couch we want to know, what exactly is the strategy in syria as we go forth? what is the plan for our no more than 50 in quotes, special operation forces inside the ground in syria and iraq and advise positions. we'll move on. >>> jeb bush reportedly telling his donors he needs to get better but saying his campaign is not on life-support. well, did they buy it or will they start jumping ship? stay close. ♪ did

american troops inside syria. "the washington post" reports this morning that the president is reviewing proposals that would, for the first time, put special operation forces on the ground in syria. a move that -- and also move u.s. advisers in iraq closer to the front lines. >> let's bring in pentagon correspondent barbara starr from washington and senior international correspondent clarissa ward from iraq for much more on this. barbara, first to you, what is the latest that you're hearing about the options that the president is weighing? >> well, good morning. defense officials are telling k cnn that, yes, there are a package of operations, recommendations, if you will, that certainly the white house is well aware of. i think the key question is now is how serious, how fast and, of course, the president would have to approve all this. it would be a major change if all of these recommendations were to be accepted by the white house. that has not happened. what appears to be happening is the pentagon putting toge

-- in syria. therefore it is ill-advised to take this kind of action in onlyrt of a solid -- assad without pursuing a political transition their. that is why we are trying to get them in that same position. exposes exactly what is a fallacy in the russian approach and why it is doomed to failure. i want to make sure i understand -- are you saying then that the strikes were in a place where you believe there were no isil fighters? i want to be: careful about confirming information. it does appear that they were in areas where there were probably not isil forces, that is precisely one of the problems with this approach. you have been dealing with the russians for years, a russian general shows up at the embassy in baghdad, and apparently read your people a note saying that airstrikes will begin in one out -- one hour. what do you make of that? as secretary of defense, is that acceptable relations? where does this leave you if you sit down and talk to the russian military about a way ahead? is this n

because eventually syria will fall. the assad regime will fall and we have to have someone who we are working with that we can help pick up the pieces and stitch back together a cohesive cohort country. so, we will continue to support them. the training and equip program was a specific initiative by the defense department to see if we can get some of that moderate opposition to focus attention on isil in the eastern portions of the country and i'm the first one to knowledge it has not worked the way it was supposed to. i think that the department of defense would say the same thing. part of the reason, frankly, is because when we try to get them to just focus on isil, the response we get back is how can we focus on isil when every single day we are having barrel bombs and attacks from the regime. so, it has been hard to get them to reprioritize looking east when they have got bombs coming up in from the west, so what we are doing with the train and equip his look at where we have had success, for example, working with s

-trained moderate rebels in syria have been targeted? >> reporter: well, you know, minister lavrov mounted a very effective argument in advancing russia's position that they are battling isil rebels, but one of the things that the pentagon would point to, if you look at the location of where these air strikes took place. they are in areas that isil does not have control. if you take a look at the big swathes of area that isil is in control, they are not in these areas north of homs. in addition, you know, the pentagon has been concerned about this since really last week. i talked to an official last week before russia had conducted any air strikes, and they pointed out to me that all of the drone surveillance that russia was doing as a familiarization with the area, was reconnaissance in the area where u.s.-backed rebels were operating. so there were red flags raised even then. the question was why are they doing these drone surveillance over areas where isil was not a significant factor? so, you know, as for the direct evidence on the g

can you tell how significant that is if they have that in place in syria? >> that's more for russian defense. that system can jam aircraft, but i suspect what it is really there for is to jam drones. as you know, coalition doesn't just fly aircraft over syria, it also flies quite a few drones. it's partly for russian defense and partly to show they have the electronic warfare capability in place, and also to jam coalition drones, and to jam coalition aircraft if need be. >> michael coffman thank you very much indeed for your analysis of the situation. thank you. ♪ >>> now tensions remain high between israelis and palestinians with three reported stabbings in the last few hours and an increase in violence across israel and the occupied west bank. this was the scene in ramallah on wednesday where students fought with israeli forces. one man was killed and several others were injured. abbas has insisted that palestinians are not seeking confrontation with israel. mike hannah joins us by the phone from jerusalem. what can you tell us about the latest incident

in northern syria. we don't think that this is at the behest of the assad government. we know the russians have been conducting air strikes there, and that the syrian air force continues to conduct air strikes. so is that a risk for our troops on the ground? >> that's a very interesting question, and i'll be interested to see how the pentagon answers this later today. the potential risk from russian air strikes in syria with u.s. troops on the ground. but for now the pentagon would say russia and the united states are operating in completely different areas of syria. this memorandum of understanding to make sure they can operate safely together has been barely needed because the u.s. has been attacking in the north, and the russians imarily, according to the pentagon, have been attacki attacking government opposition rebels to the west. if that continues the u.s. troops would face little threat from the air, but you can bet that when the u.s. sends special force commanders into syria, they will plan to

operations involvement in northern syria? >> well, it is so interesting, wolf, because we were basically embedded with the ypg and touring around the front lines, and there seemed to be a little bit of the disparity of what we were hearing in the u.s. that there was an offensive imminently on raqqah, and what we were seeing on the ground with the ypg fighters, and they were exhausted after months of fighting. ill equipped, and they were lightly armed, and most of them fighting with old ak-47s and some of them fighting in the sneakerers and the sandals, an manning a huge front line, wolf, more than 400-mile line front line with minimal equipment, and no body armour, and no armoured vehicles. it is interesting to listen into the brief iing at the white hou. we talked about assistance, but no specifics. the number one question is going to be, if this is rying to facilitate a push on raqqah, how can that be done without supplying the ypg fighters with heavier weapon, and armour piercing weapons. they are going to be going up agai

troops on the ground in syria's civil war. what the special troops will and will not be doing and what america's deeper involvement means. >> syria's independence territorial independence and secular character are on the way. >> a new player in the negotiations. a lawyer for a man who spent nearly 14 years in prison at guantanamo talks about the long fight to free his client. a republican party sets its sights on nbc blaming the company for this week's controversial debate. >>> and the government prepares for an economy where anybody can start a company and sell shares online. good evening, i'm randall pinkston, antonio mora has the night off. this is al jazeera america. the u.s. has escalated its mission against i.s.i.l. the obama administration announced today that the u.s. will deploy about 50 special operations troops in northern yrts tsyria to work with local . the first time american troops will be on the ground in syria. right now special forces are based in northern iraq. a number of them were involved in a raid last w

boots on the ground in syria. and on the campaign trail, is this the start of a shake-up for jeb bush's campaign? a senior aide is out on more to come. this is "mtp daily" live from miami, and it starts right now. >>> from the home state and hometown of two of the bigger players in the presidential race, miami, florida. we'll start with a major decision overseas. the obama administration's new strategy strays far from past statements. the ranking democrat on the armed services committee will be here in a moment. somebody who actually gets -- is asked for a lot of advice at the white house. that's jack reed. and here, what the new speaker of the house paul ryan told me about whether congress has the duty to weigh in on this decision. >>> plus, the stormy relationship between the sunshine state's republican candidates, jeb bush and marco rubio. all that is coming up. >>> but first let's hit the press box. richard engel have a lot more on the strategy behind the shift. kristin welker is at the white house where the p

in syria it is rocco. the coalition forces that are intent to get back to the question -- they want to iraq -- attack rocco. that is occupied by isil. they therefore deserve our risk -- support. >> when you say soon, let's be realistic, are we talking -- with all the countries we mentioned, and your acknowledgment the leader could be more -- are we talking about an effort that is likely to be a multiyear effort? secretary carter: and that is probably the case. the reason is that the strategy is an important part of the strategy. support capable and motivated that can retake and hold territory. that is the only way for a lasting victory. it takes time to identify those forces, to motivate those forces, to train them. it depends on the political circumstances in both iraq and syria. it does depend on a political circumstances. ist is not something that anything other than a very real factor there. that is necessary for a lasting defeat. to be defeated, but to stay defeated. the people who live there need to

-- in syria. therefore it is ill-advised to take this kind of action in support of a solid -- assad only without pursuing a political transition their. that is why we are trying to et them in that same osition. your question exposes exactly what is a fallacy in the russian approach and why it is doomed to failure. >> i want to make sure i understand -- are you saying then that the strikes were in a place where you believe there were no isil fighters? shton carter: i want to be careful about confirming information. it does appear that they were in areas where there were probably not isil forces, that is precisely one of the problems with this approach. >> you have been dealing with the russians for years, a russian general shows up at the embassy in baghdad, and apparently read your people a note saying that airstrikes will begin in one out -- one hour. what do you make of that? as secretary of defense, is that acceptable relations? where does this leave you if you sit down and talk to the russian

syria that was an effort to rescue american citizens being held hostage inside of syria. in another situation, a more recent situation, u.s. operators carried out a mission against an isil leader and that mission resulted in taking that isil leader off the battlefield and collecting important valuable intelligence about isil. our approach to this all along has been to implement a strategy against isil that is building the capacity of local forces on the ground to take the fight to isil in their own country. that is a critical part of our -- of the military component of our broader strategy and there are a variety of ways where we've tried to build up capacity of those local forces. in some cases that was to take those fighters outside of the country and train them and equip them. and we've talked about the fact that that program didn't have the -- didn't produce the kind of results that we would like to see. but there have been at least a couple of situations where the united states has taken military action to resupply and reinforce those fighters on the ground to give t

still controls many parts of syria. al jazeera's imikoli imoli reports. >> russia didn't start the war in syria but may try finish it. for one month, russian jets have been bombing locations across the country. >> we will support the syrian army only in its legitimate fight against terrorist groups. >> 30 days and more than a thousand air strikes later military analysts are still trying to determine who putin determines as terrorists. sieair strikes have hit some i.s.i.l. areas, many haven't. still not convinced about the i.s.i.l. line. >> assad has chosen himself to fight i.s.i.l. >> last week assad made his first foreign visit in the four years he has been in war with his own people. the trip was a surprise but the destination wasn't. long before the campaign began assad admit he was running out of soldiers. >> translator: the terrorismthad have spread to more territories and states just not in our region. >> reporter: russia's propaganda machine is hard at work too. they are filmed from the vantage point of the russi

troops to syria. president obama reverses course authorizing special forces commandos to deploy to syria and assist in the fight against isis on the ground. opening yet another war front in the middle east. >>> iran at the table. america's adversary joins the us, russia and others in syrian peace talks finding common ground. but deep divides remain over the future of the syrian dictator. will the u.s. be able to force out bashar al assad? >>> plucking the peacock. the republican national committee suspending its debate with nbc. the gop fuming over the candidates' face-off on cnbc, calling the tone of the questioning,