is now, back in 1985. goodnight. music: how soon is now by the smiths. this is bbc news, here he was at westminster in february giving the speaker a pilot s helmet. on the helmet reads, we have freedom, give us wings to protect it. this is what he wants. f 16 fighter jets like these flown by the polish air force. modern warplanes that could give ukraine greater control of the skies. some european countries are ready to give some of theirs to ukraine but they are all made by the us and that means that president biden, who is at the g7 summit injapan, needs to give his permission first. he has been reluctant, fearing it could escalate the war, but now his officials say the us will help train ukrainian pilots and will not stop european countries donating some f 16s. this comes after concerted pressure from european leaders, including rishi sunak, who earlier this week promised president zelensky to gather international support for getting ukraine the air power it needed. but tra
didn t know if you would be doing it virtually or coming, there s always a big security risks surrounding this kind of hugely high profile visit. he understand why he and allies will be tight lipped about that, but when he does come it will be a hugely significant moment. it will be the first time that he is in the presence of all of his g7 allies. he s coming from saudi arabia, addressing arab leaders, including pastor al assad, a huge prudent ally, so i think the audience he will find here, the solidarity he will find here, will be much more receptive, shall we say. be much more receptive, shall we sa . w be much more receptive, shall we sa , . ., , be much more receptive, shall we sa. , ., say. nick marsh reporting fresh from the g7. say. nick marsh reporting fresh from the g7- thank say. nick marsh reporting fresh from the g7. thank you say. nick marsh reporting fresh from the g7. thank you so say. nick marsh reporting fresh from the g7. thank you so much. - russia has re
enough on this leader? h0 that the us under obama was tough enough on this leader? ha i that the us under obama was tough enough on this leader? enough on this leader? no i don t. i think there enough on this leader? no i don t. i think there are enough on this leader? no i don t. i think there are things enough on this leader? no i don t. i think there are things i enough on this leader? no i don t. i think there are things i could - think there are things i could have been done earlier in the beginning before things turned so ugly. when bashar al assad had decided six weeks into the protest that april 2011, they started in march 2011. by the end of april 2011 we had decided that it was clear bashar al assad had decided to use a policy of clear indiscriminate violence against his people as a response to the protest. as a result we had a very heavy policy sanction, we had executive orders to do that. given that we knew that, there were steps i believe we could ve taken, like,
mistake, especially without conditions. by the way, conditions that could have included him stepping down. there are many conditions they could ve imposed on him. my assumption is for them to decide that their policy failed. and i understand. i worked on the us one policy in syria. i was director for syria and lebanon for two years at the national security council. it includes the first two years of the syrian crisis. the policy failed and didn t achieve its mission to support a stable transition to democracy and to undermine bashar al assad power. and yes it failed, but that doesn t mean that you should move on and welcome this person with open arms. there are still steps that can be done to further isolate him and to usher in new leadership. but by doing this, not only have they thrown all of that away, if the worst negotiation i ve ever seen, but my assumption is that for him to be welcome this much, the saudi arabians in particular, they must be getting something else in return, be
after years of civil war that left hundreds of thousands of people dead and millions homeless. syria s government stands accused of terrible atrocities, led by president bashar al assad. but today, after nine years of international isolation, he got a warm welcome at a summit of fellow middle eastern leaders. president assad has held on to power, despite western opposition, with massive military support from russia s president putin. joining me now is hagar chemali, the former director for syria and lebanon at the national security council under president obama. thank you forjoining us. i want to start with what president velasquez that if this arab league summit, criticising those who turned a blind eye to russia. how will that message be receive there among arab nations s i be receive there among arab nations ~ . , be receive there among arab nations ~ ., , ., , nations s i think that they are very easy to cap nations s i think that they are very easy to cop departmental- nations