for russia. a minor incursion, president biden sparks confusion and sows doubt on america s response if russia invades ukraine. we ll have reaction from moscow this hour. donald trump gets handed a major legal blow as the u.s. supreme court rejects his request to keep his white house documents hidden. what this means for the january 6 investigation. and hundreds of thousands of syrians facing a harsh and brutal winter. human rights groups calling it a crisis within a crisis. announcer: live from london, this is cnn newsroom with isa soares. good morning, everyone. welcome to the show. it is thursday, january the 20th, and we begin with the last thing u.s. president joe biden needed really with his approval rating at a listless 41%, and
The past year has seen a trend toward normalization with the Assad regime, accompanied by a push by some nations to force or coerce displaced Syrians to return or deny them asylum outright. The presumption that Syria is now safe for return is often motivated by political expediency and a false equivalency between “safety” and reduced military operations in a particular area, rather than an in-depth understanding of conditions on the ground and the challenges that returnees face. With pressures for return increasing, the Voices for Displaced Syrians and the Operations and Policy Center undertook a first-of-its-kind research project to establish the minimum frequency and types of violations experienced by returnees throughout the whole of Syria. Despite the known difficulties, the report aimed at obtaining an understanding of at least the minimum frequency with which violations occur, which is a critical step in discussions about return.