Sanctions as the heaviest ever look at the latest from seoul. And judging is now under way at. The olympics winter games were kind of the sebastian two told one the first ever title for the man speak and snowboarding in bad. Mood. Im edith cmon you welcome to the program so we begin in syria where the government is escalating attacks on the opposition held suburbs of damascus known as Eastern Ghouta for the sixth day running intense shelling has killed almost five hundred people including many children now the u. N. Security council has been unable to agree on a cease fire resolution in syria and has delayed a vote until later today. The temporary ceasefire would allow much needed humanitarian aid to reach traps of civilians but serious key ally russia is blocking the resolution it says it wants guarantees that rebel fighters in east and go to will respect a halt to the fighting will get expert analysis in a moment but first this report. These crackling bright lights have all the hallm
About to be handed out and go back yes yes and well be giving you our tops and flocks of this years festival. I know donna welcome to the program where we begin in syria where the government is escalating attacks on eastern the opposition held suburb of damascus intense shelling for seven days has killed five hundred civilians including many children the u. N. Security council is scheduled to mace to try to agree a cease fire resolution after several attempts fails syrias key ally russia has so far blocks the resolution it says it wants guarantees that rebel fighters in eastern guta will hold the fight saying well speak to the syria director of the save the Children Charity in just a moment but first this report. These are just the latest victims of the worlds inaction. Dragged from the rubble of the devastated district of Eastern Ghouta after an entire week of bombing. Survivors are being treated in a makeshift hospital in the rebel held president ial area outside damascus activists s
And big aaron killing chang candidates who bought into poland first ever olympic gold medal and the menstrual gorge in fact. Im out on a welcome to the program we begin in syria where the government is escalating attacks on the opposition held suburbs of damascus known as eastern gusa for the seventh day running intense shelling has now killed five hundred civilians including many children the u. N. Security council has been unable to agree on a cease fire resolution in syria and has delays of votes on to later today but syrias key ally russia is blocking the resolution it says it wants guarantees rebel fighters in eastern goods there will halt the fighting will speak to the syria director of the safe thats. In just a moment but first this report. These are just the latest victims of the worlds inaction. Dragged from the rubble of devastated Eastern Ghouta after six Straight Days of bombing. Survivors are being treated in a makeshift hospital in the rebel held residential area outside
Williams. Good evening. Brian has the night off. Im lester holt. If theres anything weve learned as a nation at war for the past 13 years, it is that events on the ground can change rapidly and so can the mission. Today, the United Nations declared a refugee crisis in iraq. A level 3 emergency, its highest level. Late this afternoon we learned u. S. Special forces landed on an iraqi mountain top to assess the feasibility of a military rescue mission. Thousands of yazidi civilians are stranded there under threat by islamic fighters. It was less than a week ago the u. S. Began humanitarian air drops and limited air strikes against isis targets inside Northern Iraq. And now tonight a possible large scale refugee evacuation is on the table. We get to keir simmons with the latest on iraq in a moment, but first to the pentagon and nbcs jim miklaszewski. Reporter good evening. Theres late word that those u. S. Forces have flown off the mountain and safely back at their base. But for the First
Today its been declared a level three emergency and weve learned u. S. Forces landed on a moub mountain top. As weve been reporting, thousand of civilians are stranded there under threat by islamic fighters. It was less than a week ago u. S. Began humanitarian air drops and limited air strikes against icy targets. We begin tonight at the pentagon and jim miklaszewski. Good evening. Reporter good evening. Theres late word that those u. S. Forces have flown off the mountain and safely back at their base. But based on what they saw, the pentagon says a full blown rescue mission is now far less likely. For 24 hours two teams of u. S. Special forces were atop the sinjar mountain with thousands of yazidi refugees have been trapped, many dying of thirst or starvation. The heavily armed green berets were there to assess what it would take to complete a rescue mission, to get the refugees off the mountain in the safest way possible. U. S. Officials say early assessments are encouraging. Intelli