super-moon eclipse not seen since 1982. so then russia's president vladimir putin says russia has no plans to deploy combat troops to syria, despite the buildup of military equipment in syria. secretary of state john kerry discusses the matter with sergey lavrov. hassan rouhani, says it would make syria the haven for terrorists. james bays jadiplomatic edis has this. >> france has been involved in strikes on i.s.i.l. targets in iraq for over a year. now for first time the french president has ordered his attacks in the defensive action. >> france struck genes training camp of islamic state of iraq and the levant, threatening the security of our country. this operation was to protect our territory to prevent further terror attacks to act in civil defense. the camp was totally destroyed. some other strikes could take place in the coming weeks if necessary. still, with the same goal. >> reporter: france is part of the u.s. led coalition against i.s.i.l. but in an interview with the u.s. network cbs and pbs, president putin said that and the training of opposition forces in syria is illegal because it's not authorized by assad's government which still holds the country's u.n. seat. >> translator: and it's my deep belief that any actions to the contrary in order to destroy the legitimate government will create a situation which you can note in any other areas such as libya where all state institutions are disintegrated. we see the similar situation in iraq and there is no other solution to the syrian crisis than strengthening effective government structures and rendering them help in fighting terrorism. >> now russia has sent troops to syria and has told its u.s. counterpart, that it's set up a center between iran, iraq, which is supposed to be a u.s. ally and the assad government. u.s. secretary of state john kerry was quick to express his misgivings. >> all the forces must be coordinated, this is not coordinated, we have concerns about how we are going to go forward, that is what the meetings are to coordinate that now, to see if we can deconflict but also to find oway forward that will be effective keeping united secular syria, that can be at peace and stable again without foreign troops present. >> reporter: in an interview with al jazeera the u.k. prime minister said in his view it was not a case of choosing which enemy to fight first. >> what we're saying is we want osyria without either i.s.i.l. or assad. both of them have been butchering ordinary syrians. i don't think it makes sense you have to have one before the other. what needs to happen is both need to go. >> reporter: the good news for syria is there's a great deal of talk involving all of the key nations. all of them say they want to defeat i.s.i.l. all of them say there should be a political solution. but the bad news on the key points have stopped any political settlement in syria for four and a half years. the future of president bashar al-assad there's so far no agreement. james bays, al jazeera at the united nations. >> well barack obama has called on wealthy nations to do more to help hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing conflict. obama addressing the u.n. says more effort need to be expended to help syria. >> in the middle east and africa, these are humanitarian crises that we cannot ignore and we have to deliver the urgent aid that is needed right now. but our efforts need to be matched by hard work and reconciliation that often tear societies apart. >> we are gettinapart. >> we are getting news of conflict at the al-aqsa mosque. imtiaz tyab, reporting, what are you hearing? >> you can see the old city and that sort of silver domed mosque is the actually al-aqsa mosque. now what you may be able to see are israeli police and border police. there's quite a large number of them. you only see a few there but in the past few minutes we've seen a number of them actually on the roof of the mosque as well. and over the last few minutes we've also heard stun grenades and fire crackers going off as well. what we have been told, what we understand from eyewitnesses on the ground is these israeli security forces came in at around just before 7:00 a.m. local time. these confrontation he between palestinian worshipers and these israeli security forces erupted. we understand that there are some of these palestinians who are sthied th inside the mosque, barricaded inside the mosque and that's why we see so many security forces surrounding it. at around 7:30 most days visitors of any denomination are allowed inside the mosque. now difference today, is today is the start of the sukat holiday which is a jewish religious holiday, the reason why tensions are so high is far right religious groups try enter the compound. they are allowed to between 7:30 and 1130 this the morning. this is a provocation, many palestinians believe they come to pray and that is disrupting a nearly 50 year agreement between jordan and the israelis, some they describe as the status quo in which only muslims are allowed to pray inside the mosque compound. over the past days we have had considerable tension at the al-aqsa mosque and these clashes appear to be ongoing. >> leave it there for the time being, back with you as the situation goes along. thank you very much indeed. >> more than 90% of votes counted, catalonia is on its way to win parliamentary elections. jonah hull reports. >> reporter: it looks and feels as if nothing can stand in their way, independence, catalans cry. >> catalonia decide the future. and the future is the only way the independence. >> reporter: who will deliver it for them? a coalition of parties from the right and the left, likely to include the far left, with nothing in common whatsoever except the promise to pave the way for independence in 18 months' time. >> translator: we have a lot of work to do and we're not going to relax. we have a democratic mandate and we know what that means. we know how we've won, we've won against odds. >> reporter: there may yet be trouble ahead on the road to independence, not the least the weight of the spanish constitutional court deployed to block independence but also the fact that this incredibly precarious political coalition will in fact have to stand together and govern. there is every possibility that in politics, such an opportunistic arrangement will fracture and fall. in the meantime battle lines will be drawn across a country just emerging from economic crisis that can ill afford to lose one of its most prosperous parts. >> well i think catalonia belongs to spain and in the times that we are i think there's no sense in trying to separate it from spain. it would not bring anything good for us. >> it's only the interest of the politician. >> reporter: and secessionist movements elsewhere will be watching closely. >> flemish flag, catalan flag, basque, wales, scotland. we want catalonia to be free. it's up to the catalans to determine that. but spain has said no no no. >> reporter: what happens next may spark a constitutional crisis in spain and elsewhere. jonah hull, al jazeera, barcelona. >> pope francis has concluded his trip to america. >> with a smile and a wave, pope francis ended his first ever visit to the united states. this is the first ever visit from a pope, he talked immigration climate change and inequality, same sex marriage and abortion and on his final day in address to bishops he talked about child sex abuse in the catholic church. he met victims, offered his prayers. 2002 many allegations of child sex abuse by clerics in the catholic church became president, more than 100,000 victims in the u.s. and many more worldwide. and the pope propositioned there would be no hiding place for guilty. >> translator: these things cannot be maintained in secret. i commit to a careful oversight to ensure youth are protected and all responsible will be held accountable. >> reporter: for many victims they've heard this before. >> this meeting today protects not a single child. it exposes not a single predator and it does not deter a single coverup. >> the church is refusing to hand over any detail of internal investigation of child sex abuse to authorities and they claim they are doing that for financial and legal reasons. meanwhile they insist the guilty go free and the victims continue to sur. >> he is saying this in a christian way a loving way, i would hope t to forgive. >> thousands more were turned away as they failed oget through security. the vatican considers this a success but many will wait to see if the pope's actions match his words. allen fisher, al jazeera, philadelphia. still lady, stepping up against boko haram. >> and the possible break through in the disappearance of 43 students in mexico. helpless feeling i've ever experienced. >> but who's getting rich while some are just trying to survive? >> they want to make the city for people that can afford things. >> "faultlines". al jazeera america's hard-hitting... >> today they will be arrested. >> ground-breaking... >> they're firing canisters of gas at us. >> award winning investigative documentary series. >> al jazeera america, weekday mornings. catch up on what happened overnight with a full morning brief. get a first hand look with in-depth reports and investigations. start weekday mornings with al jazeera america. open your eyes to a world in motion. >> again welcome back the top stories here on al jazeera. there are new clashes between israeli police and worshipers at al-aqsa mosque exown. compound. there are reports that israeli forces have fired. russian president vladimir putin says russia has no plans to deploy combat troops to syria. earlier, secretary of state john kerry held meetings with sergey lavrov. coalition troops from nigeria, chad and mohamma aimmee idris has the story. >> the last humans have been particularly important, in turning the died for the army. >> we continue to have this isolated attacks in communities, villages, and routes as well. but this will not deter us. we are determined, continuously getting our strategy. >> the nigerians took us on a 15 hour trip from the capital abuja to the front line. and everywhere a reminders of the carnage of the last six years and the uncertainty of the future. the military may have cor core d the fighters, in maiduguri at a time when residents thought they had seen the last of such attacks. al jazeera was here six months ago, the tension and anxiety was so evident on people's faces. six-year-old survived six attacks on her village but the last one was particularly devastating. she lost nearly everything dear to her. >> they came out at night and burned our home. my son his wife and my two grand sons were all killed. they destroyed my home and the grains in the barn. this time i am staying. what else is there to be afraid of and where can i go? anyway the military is here and i trust that they will do their best. >> reporter: the male population of these towns and villages have been decimated, leaving a large number of women and children with no one to rely on. the process of rebuilding is long and hard. the military vows to defeat boko haram by the end of this year. until then, people in the northeast say they can only hold on to what they have now, hope, ahmed idris, al jazeera, nigeria. government of nigeria is concerned about defeating a radical ideology. >> there are a few factors, in the first place i think there is a different kind of military and political will. the chief of army staff has been out there, at the front with the troops, there's a different kind of political will since the change of government at the end of may. i think that there's also an increased exaps capacity o capae nigerian side, some of the equipment bought in the last year, 18 months has found its way to the front lines. and on boko haram i think there's a change in structure of the organization as they've lost territory, lost some of their camps in the forest, there's a space opening up for some of those who were forcibly conscripted over the last 18 months two years into boko haram to be able to vu surrender. that does leave a hard core around the group's leader, who pledged loyalty to islamic state, to defeat the nonecy ins, the fighting involved. >> fighting against houthi rebels dmonts yemen, despite th. >> houthi rebel positions. this is alja malia in ta'izz province. 30 houthis were killed here, when trying to take control of a house that belonged to former ali abdullah saleh. capital sa florida still under houthi control. the united nations security council has asked the warring factions to lay down their weapons and negotiate a peace deal. yemen's foreign minister says his government is willing to talk if the houthis stop fighting. >> how we can be engaged with a political situation with a minority who have started this kind of violence and this kind of using all kind of force he against innocent people. >> saudi backed coalition force ves continueshave continued ther strikes. the houthis however say the attacks also killed civilians and left dozens more wounded. this is aden which government informs recaptured from houthi forces in july. a project is underway. >> i am feeling very, very optimistic, nobody expected before seven months when the houthis have taken over yemen that we reach to that stage where we have most of yemen with us. >> he says he's he's convinced that the world will not sit idle and watch what he has described as a campaign which has taken yemen 20 years backwards. paul tradergian al jazeera. the 43 missing students in mexico remains unsolved. lucia newman reports from mexico. >> commandeered 43 buses so they could go to mesms co-city t mexo attend oprotest. six were killed, 43 others abducted, disappearing without a trace. one year later the question remains: why. >> translator: we know that in cases of disappearances, there are very strange strategies which make it difficult to know what happened. there are packs of silence but we believe there are lines of investigation that were ignored. >> reporter: one of them is revealed here, this closed circuit video of a fifth bus, which may explain a motivate, independent investigators from the council of human rights, may have commandeered the bus, carrying a cargo of heroin, which explains the extreme violence used by the cartels to stop the buses. the army was conspicuous by its absence, even though soldiers at this battalion were receiving calls for help and earshot of the gun fire they refused to intervene. igwala is in the state of guerrera where poppy and heroin is produced and guerreros unidos has a strong presence. this bus terminal is used to send heroin to chicago. >> it is proven there are direct links from groups in chicago and groups operating in guerrero, including guerreros unidos. >> like the students, the fifth bus has disappeared, but it has opened up the strongest hypothesis to date. why so many people here are still terrified to talk about what happened, in many cases right before their eyes. lucia newman, al jazeera, igwala, mexico. iran's supreme leader, ayatollah khamenei has demand he saudi arabia answer for the stampede that killed over 700 pilgrims at the hajj. >> called on iranian leaders to be more thoughtful and sensible towards the victims of this stampede. he said the government is investigating the tragedy, and the kingdom of saudi arabia said the process of identifying the dead will continue for a number of days and he said the sheer number of the dead people, more than 700 pilgrims died in the stampede and he said most of them lost their identification when the stampede happened and that is making it hard for the saudi authorities to identify them. as far as fatalities there is no list yet but we know more than 140 iran yarn yawn were among te deaians were among thedead. around 3,000 have evacuated from tourist islands. typhoon dujuan is gaining strength, torrential rain is also expected. the indian prime minister narendra modi is exploring ways to tap into renewable energy. indian was one of the last major economies to submit its climate action plan to tackle global warming ahead of a major climate summit in paris. a major astronomical event that is happening, a supermoon total lunar eclipse is taking place, visible in many parts of the world. the eclipse which made the moon appear red, is happening, ta rek bailey has the report. >> the thing is that the moon's oshtmoon'sorbit isn't a perfect. at times the moon is closer to the earth than other times. the difference 41,900 kilometers. about a 10th of the total distance between the earth and the moon. the closest point is caught a supermoon. it happens between four and six time a year and the moon appears 14% larger and 30% brighter than when it's at its furthest point. what happens this time around is it coincides with a total loounr eclipse. >> the moon should disappear because we stop seeing the light from the sun. however, the light of the sun is still going through our own sphere here, that's why everything becomes red and that's a fascinating thing. >> if you wonder what a lunar eclipse look like, back on earth it was visible through the eastern pacific, lasted about another hour and if you missed it you have to wait another 18 years for the next one. >> just a reminder, keep up on all the news, aljazeera.com. fp aljazeera.com >> i'm ali velshi. this is a special edition of "third rail." the fervor of pope francis's visit underscores how many are devoted to religion. but that seems at odds with the u.s. constitution which never once mentions god. ists a tension in american life that began with the country's founding and may never be resolved.