The impeachment inquiry into donald trump the u. S. Top diplomat in ukraine testifies behind closed doors in sport its a huge night for round madrid in the Champions League the 14 time when its currently bottom of their group. To fight the right. Lets get going to accuse president wretch up type are the ones in the russian for city of sochi for talks with lot of me a putin mr repeated his threat to restart his military operation against kurdish fighters in northeastern syria the leaders are expected to discuss the turkish cease fire that was brokered by the u. S. Which is due to expire in a matter of hours the Kurdish Syrian Democratic forces the pulled out of some areas along the border but not everywhere as agreed under the terms of the truce before heading to sochi is what mr had to say. Vladimir putin and i will discuss all the steps to be taken in order to maintain the territorial integrity of syria and to cleanse the northern parts of syria from terrorists and terrorist organizations we will also be revisiting the efforts made for drafting a new constitution and we will also discuss it live and the significance attached to this area including a ceasefire we want a lasting peace in syria i hope our meeting will make progress well meanwhile the syrian president Bashar Al Assad has called president a thief he made those remarks during a visit to areas of italy a province taken from turkish bank rebels by assads forces. And the whole hairdo as a thief he stole our plants and factories our produce and he stole our oil with the help of ice so now hes stealing our lands and who we are called. But i do want to ledges to have entered syria of his own choice however over the past 9 years hes been trying but couldnt or rather not authorized he said to have informed the americans. You are simply a servant you were ordered to enter and you did. Well covering this still developing story for us this particle again in washington shall stratford will join us from salon pin on the at the turkey border with syria but 1st lets go to sochi and moscow correspondent step whats coming out of these discussions. So far nothing yet because we are still waiting after 4 and a half hours the meeting is still continuing between the president of iran and president putin here and put in a residence in this archie and its only 4 hours until the cease fire will expire so all eyes of course are here on this meeting in sochi and some video images that emerged from the meeting showed erdogan and put in very relaxed it looked like they had a very pleasant conversation it also was sad that the turkish president laid all his cards on the table he has traveled to sort of course because president putin is now seen as the main power broker in syria after the United States forces have left and president putin has this grand scheme for a peace deal involving turkey and syria and the kurds so russia is now. We seem to lost the line there to sochi we will go back of course to. If we can before the end of the program well as the deadline approaches for that cease fire in Northern Syria the step with mentioning there lets remind you of the events that led up to where we are right now its all stuff that. Pentagon officials democrats republicans and european leaders said the withdrawal of u. S. Troops gave turkey a green light to act militarily against the kurdish s. D. F. In syria. The kurdish s. D. F. Called it a stab in the back turkish president received type has long described kurdish fighters in Northern Syria as terrorists pose an existential threat to turkey. But the 8 turkish artillery and air strikes began targeting kurdish positions across the border. Earlier gone says operation peace spring is a campaign against terrorism not the Kurdish People but hes rounded on International Critics him. With 3600000 Syrian Refugees in our country whiting to go back to their homes the European Union look at yourself i repeat at the moment you cannot call or to find no operation as an invasion our job is easy we could just open the doors in 2600000 refugees weve seen them back to you Turkish Forces and their syrian rebel allies made quick gains on the battlefield larry control of the border town of tell it on october 14th. The u. N. And aid organizations warned of a new humanitarian catastrophe as tens of thousands of civilians fled the Turkish Forces of bonds as the fighting intensified International Pressure on turkey continue to mount European Countries including germany france and the netherlands transworld weapons sales to turkey on the 14th of october the us treasury announced targeted sanctions on turkeys Defense Energy and interior ministers and 2 of their respective ministries. Fears grew about the military operation weakening the battle against eisele when it was claimed up to 800 eisel prisoners and family members had escaped an s. D. S. Control jail shelled by Turkish Forces with their former us allies moving out of the Turkish Military and turkey back Syrian Rebels advancing kurdish s. D. F. Items were forced to go to the Syrian Regime and that lies the russians for help. It is a deeply easy alliance the Assad Government which had days before described the syrian kurds as traitors and separatists was quick to act the syrian Army Deployed to various positions around 35 kilometers from the Turkish BorderRussian Military vehicles patrolled some of the areas in between to prevent a potential confrontation to turkish banks Syrian Rebels and the syrian army in a letter dated october 9th trump had warned not to launch an operation against Syrian Kurdish fighters dont to be a tough guy it said thought so but the 17th a u. S. Delegation led by Vice President mike pence flew to ankara for emergency talks and has already traded insults and threats with World Leaders criticizing his military operation no one expected a pause in the fighting to be announced today the United States and turkey have agreed to a cease fire in syria. Turkish side will pause operation peace spring. In order to allow for the withdrawal of y p g forces from the safe zone. For 120 hours. President early on valid that if Kurdish Forces havent completely withdrawn from within the proposed safety zone by choosing a night in full military operations would continue the kurdish s. D. F. Said they would only withdraw from a contact line stretching around 120 kilometers between the towns of russell i mean and. Over the 21st the day before the ceasefire was due to kurdish residents of the town of spat u. S. Military vehicles with route as american soldiers headed to the iraqi border leaving their one time allies behind. And shells transferred joins us live now from that location on the turkey syria border so charles what do we know as to the number of kurdish fighters who are still as far as the turks are concerned in the wrong place at the wrong time because the ceasefire is only got a few hours to go. Yeah a worrying situation here effectively because certainly according to an f. S. A. Commander we spoke to a couple of hours ago hes the Free Syrian Army fighters that have been very much in the forefront of this fight with the turks we spoke to a commander who has been operating in the town behind me which has been the center of so much fighting up until this cease fire came into place what almost 5 days ago now he says that there are still s. D. F. Fighters in a considerable amount of them inside that town which of course is an indication of not having withdrawn from outside this proposed safe area this safe zone that turkey wants them to withdraw from he also said that its not only in this town but its in basque rate areas along this border so that is of great concern. When what are we now yeah 4 or so hours away from this deadline the ceasefire deadline ending he also interesting lee said that there had been deployments of back forces both to the east of here and to the wests suggesting fools is already in themselves for a resumption of this military operation and it was very telling as well as last night in an interview that was given to an American Network by the stiff. He said that the s. T. A. Had never agreed to this u. S. Brokered deal with that in its entirety so very telling there is to these reports that were hearing that so many of the s. D. F. Still havent withdrawn that deal also went on to say that trust in the u. S. Between among the s. D. F. Was at its lowest ebb and he describes the withdrawal of u. S. Forces from this area as a strategic mistake so yeah the closer we get to this deadline expiring then the more worrying it is certainly according to Turkish Military all Turkish Backed military forces in this area who say were a long way off those if forces sufficiently withdrawing enough to prevent potentially a resumption of this military campaign charles thank you u. S. Secretary of state might pompeo says washington has not to play a fine line between respecting turkeys concerns and avoiding a catastrophe in Northern Syria the work that we did to build out that team united around the destruction of the caliphate and theory in iraq was important and effective. Kurdish forces there the arab fighters that were part of the us the up were great warriors. We also are mindful that our nato ally turkey has legitimate security concerns there indeed the United States has designated the p. K. As terrorist for an awfully long time we take those concerns there seriously the president used americas economic might our economic power to avoid a kinetic conflict with a nato ally and its present term true that very day there needed to be some tough love in order to get it done. Iraqs military says u. S. Forces are crossed over from syria dont have permission to state the soldiers are part of forces who withdrew from Northern Syria as the Turkish Operation against kurdish fighters began and live now to washington correspondent Patty Cole Hain is there for us this lets talk about the ceasefire 1st what does the United States think slash wants to happen next. Loving the most important point is that the u. S. Doesnt really have a say in this and you heard the secretary of state said that they were avoiding a kinetic action between 2 nato allies that is what widely been dismissed by all the experts here they think what happened is early on president want told President Trump that he was going to invade and the president pulled the troops those troops have been keeping turkey from that action so the president says its between turkey and syria but at the same time they say they want to ceasefire and if they dont get it theyll have sanctions so 2 very different messages being sent out u. S. Forces on the ground in iraq never makes a good headline i guess i mean is this just an embarrassment for the pentagon. Well i think this shows that the president made this policy by himself he didnt talk to anyone he sent it out in a tweet the Defense Department is taken off guard theyve been sort of scrambling to get the troops out ever since so this is going to be the question the secretary of defense just said theyre going to iraq iraq is saying no theyre not welcome so exactly whats going to happen to those u. S. Troops the president is desperate to send the message that he is not going to let isis reemerge in his watch to do that he needs troops there the president s also change his mind on pulling all the troops out of syria now saying that some are going to stay to protect the oil the president had this to say yesterday will work something out with the kurds and that they have some money they have some cash flow maybe well get one of our Big Oil Companies to go in and do it properly but theyll have some cash flow which they basically dont have right now basically saying everyone is happy not at all clear what the president means when he says were going to keep the oil which is what hes been saying so what youre seeing right now is the president had this conversation with president early on he changed u. S. Policy longstanding u. S. Policy then we saw the Defense Department really scrambled to try and get their troops out safely while the fighting was happening all around them then the secretary of defense goes the region says the troops are going to stay in iraq only to have say no theyre not so thats where we are the u. S. As basically saying were out of the region the question is where are they going to put them we dont know yet because its all been very hastily done we will wait and see past thank you so much. Coffees a middle east expert of the Russian InternationalAffairs Council he joins us from moscow alexy collecting cough welcome to the news hell on aljazeera so good to talk to you again whats the one big thing that mr putin wants out of these discussions today. Well i dont think there is a one major thing i believe its a whole set of things because the situation is quite complicated and in northeast syria problem is just a part of this big Bigger Picture just one of the puzzles so but if to speculate about priorities so definitely it is to stop and hold completely the Turkish Military operation also to address Turkish Security concerns because most going to stand it cannot eliminate turkey completely because it needs it and board with us in the process and further syrian settlement and it also needs. To finally start direct talks with damascus so they could strike final deal which envisages the final parameters of the northeastern syria issue there are also played me for interrupting you there are these reports circulating in the past few hours saying that Russian Forces are moving into the areas vacated by the white p. G. D. That would therefore by definition put the Russian Forces cheek by jowl with Turkish Forces therefore does that increase the chance of a conflict between turkey and russia and is that something that both men both leaders mr and mr putin could live with. Well i think it is a ration to think about this in this terms i think both leaders. Clearly understand that. By all means they need to avoid any clash or conflict or escalation between them if you look back were going to have a go when their operation started we saw that Russian MilitaryPolice Together with the syrian army and to mondays and later and to. Go bonnie and actually the role which Russian Military police play the role of a debtor and or disengagement force and also which which protects kurds from attacks. From from from turkish side so i think thats kind of. Been mr erdogan is ok and fine with the russians or syrians being in charge of the territory vacated by wide p. G. And now i think the big problem is that how to address Turkish Security concerns about establishing the saved zone in northeast syria what are the its its size is. And for how long for example Turkish Forces could stay in that area were talking about the establishment of that safe zone is it a fair extrapolation on my part therefore to assume that what you seem to be saying the takeaway is this turkey needs russia on the ground in syria russia needs turkey on the ground in syria. Well i would say that russia. Needs turkey on the ground in syria temporary. Eventually russia doesnt want turkey to be on the ground because. Firstly it wasnt invited by. The Syrian Government and secondly its presence in syrian territory to fuck to means an occupation what russia why russia needs to accuse russian its turkey input. Terms and later in economic terms because the final political settlement is impossible without tookie being involved and then a revival of syrian economy reconstruction is also a bit hard without turkey and turkey has in the best the interest in being part of the political process and being part of the syrian reconstruction as well what are the chances this leads to direct negotiations between turkey and the Syrian Government well sooner or later you know 2 neighbors cannot be in the internally in the in a conflict and i think that both sides coming to understanding that the talks are navigable the question is whether they happen sooner or later and i think this is one exactly one of the tasks and challenges which russia has now and i think put in is exactly addressing this issue trying to find conditions on which. Well agree to start talks with damascus i mean go to know that the 2 capitalists have been in contact. Through through certain channels of communication but in order to. Push the political settlement in north east syria and towards the reconciliation bet