Newshour has been provided by and with the ongoing support of these institutions and foundations. And. This program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Ifill the regime of syrian president Bashar Alassad faced new pressure at home and abroad today. A coalition of Opposition Groups won recognition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian People. And rebel fighters pressed their attacks in and around damascus. Across the syrian capital, it was increasingly clear that no one and no place is safe. Amateur video showed burned out cars from a blast near the justice ministry. And state television aired footage of emergency workers after three bombs exploded outside the interior ministry. The attacks highlighted an upsurge in rebel assaults around damascus and elsewhere. The New York Times reported the Syrian Military is now fighting back with scud missiles, firing at least a half dozen in recent days. Against that backdrop, president obama announced tuesday that the u. S. Will now formally recognize the Syrian Opposition movement. Weve made a decision that the Syrian Opposition coalition is now inclusive enough, is reflective and representative enough of the syrian population, ifill hours later, the friends of syria meeting in marrakech, morocco took the same step. The u. S. Became one of 114 nations to endorse the Syrian National council created just last month under international pressure. Deputy secretary of state William Burns in a growing number of towns and villages, a new syria is being born, the regime of Bashar Al Assad must and will go, the sooner he steps aside the better for all syrians. Ifill despite showing signs last week of a possible shift in russias position, the decision did not go down well in moscow, which opposes outside action against the assad regime. Foreign minister Sergei Lavrov translated as the coalition has been recognized as the only legitimate representative, it seems that the United States decided to place all bets on the armed victory of this very national coalition. Ifill but no weapons have been promised, and a spokesman for the Coalition Said it needs real support. The u. S. Has resisted sending arms, amid fears they might wind up in the hands of islamic extremist groups. Just this week, washington branded one such group the al nusra front an offshoot of al qaida in iraq. But the head of the Opposition Council said today the islamist fighters are partly responsible for the latest rebel gains. translated the decision to consider one of the fronts facing off to the regime as a terrorist group needs reconsideration. We insanely love our country and while we may disagree with some on their thought process and politics, we affirm that all weapons used by the revolutionaries aim for the fall of this tyrannical, criminal regime. Ifill there was no dissent over the marrakech meetings decision to send increased humanitarian aid and other non military support. The u. N. Now estimates that half a million syrians have fled to neighboring countries with two million more displaced within syria itself. Ifill for more on the syrian political opposition im joined now by murhaf joujati, professor of middle east studies at the National Defense university and a former member of the Syrian National council, the last major syrian political Opposition Group. And fred hof, who served as secretary of state clintons special adviser for the Syrian Transition until last september. He is now a senior fellow at the atlantic council. Ambassador hof, i want to start with you. How significant is what the president said yesterday about this recognition . Gwen, first of all, im delighted to be here. I think what the president had to say was extraordinarily significant. Were coming to the point now where we may be at or very close to a Tipping Point in syria. Where the assad regime may be in serious jeopardy of going down. Nevertheless, there are still millions, literally millions, of syrians on the fence. They have no illusions about the corruption, the incompetence, the brutality of this regime. But they do wonder whats next. Recognizing this organization, making it clear that there is International Support for it gives these syrians an opportunity to see whats next. Ifill murhaf jouejati, do you think its significant . It is significant. Its very important. This is a superpower that recognizes the Syrian National coalition. This is a permanent member of the Security Council. Now there are three that recognize the Syrian National coalition. We heard in the introductory segment there are over 100 countries now that recognize it. This truly delegitimizes the assad regime. It makes assad no longer a chief of state but rather the chief of a sectarian militia. And so this is an important if not historic event, yes. Ifill its one thing to delegitimize assad, but how do you know youre back in the right horse . How do you know this Opposition Group is not entangled in worse . You listen to the street and you listen to the protests and you listen to the different Political Parties and the political factions that are in syria and they have chosen the Syrian National coalition as their representative. The legitimacy of the Syrian National coalition does not derive purely from a u. S. Recognition or a french recognition but the recognition of the syrian street. And syria has spoken and they want the Syrian National council to be their leader so its only natural for states to accept them as such. Ifill is he right that this leads inevitably to armed support . I think hes right that the most likely way will this end is through Armed Struggle on the ground. But this decision does not in and of itself represent an american blessing of that kind of outcome. Ifill there is Armed Struggle now. I guess the question is only whether we then provide those arms. My own view, gwen, is that it is inevitable that the United States is going to get into this business. If you accept the proposition intellectually that this is most likely going to be settled by force of arms on the ground then its probably going to be essential. If the assad regime holds on, i would predict the United States will eventually be in this business. Ifill mr. Jouejati, do you also agree humanitarian nonlethal aid is not enough look, the Syrian People are facing a regime that as shown by the evidence will go to any length to keep its power. Including shooting at bread lines from air force jets. Including shelling towns, civilian neighborhoods with tank fire. And so there is no other way for the assad regime to go except through force. Now, for the past 20 months, the syrians have had to endure the military might of this vicious regime alone. And so there must be in the end there must be assistance. There must be support of the Syrian Revolution against such a mill tarrist regime. Ifill how concerned should the u. S. And these other groups be, countries be, that they are supporting Opposition Groups who have are a little too tied too closely to terrorists and terrorism . I think, you know, the United States yesterday designated the one group that is very explicitly tied to terrorism by designating the nusra front as a terrorist group. The United States basically unmaskedded this organization for what it is. Its al qaeda in iraq. Ifill but isnt the nusra front an essential coalition that were supporting . It is not a part of this coalition at all. As a matter of fact, when the mainstream Syrian Armed Opposition met last week in turkey to form a Supreme Military Council they very pointedly excluded the nusra front from that organization. Ifill is that a concern . From an american angle i totally understand the sensitivity in dealing with a front with an organized group that is affiliated to al qaeda. This is very natural, again, with regard to american sensitivities. But syrians dont see it this way. Syrian civilians are under fire for the past 21 months by a regime and they will accept the assistance from anyone in order to save their lives, the lives of their wives and children and their towns. And so to tell the Syrian People under fire now that nusra or anybody sells a terrorist organization, though they are helping you and though they are the ones who have made a serious dent into the assad regime does not make a whole lot of sense. Ifill is it worth it for the u. S. To simply look the other way in that case . No, i dont think so. I think when the designation itself is intellectually defensible, okay . And it also does in a way constitute a message from the United States to minorities in syria to alawites and christians in particular who could be the targets of choice for this particular group that we will not countenance the participation of this group in the future governance of syria. But there is a question here of timing. And i think dr. Jouejati alludes to this. This announcement would have been better after the recognition of the new national coalition. It would have been better after a change of policy where the United States actually gets involved in arming elements of the opposition. Ifill final question for you both. Wherever the u. S. Or other western nations have intervened in these kinds of conflicts and opposition overthrowing the government, theres always been a question about whos in place to actually form a government afterward. Is this Opposition Council, is this group the one thats going to take over . Are they ready . This group is, as we are speaking, establishing a government, a ra Transitional Government that will as of now, as of the very near future build committees for various state craft things that will become the future institutions of syria. So, yes, the Syrian National coalition is going to produce a Transitional Government. Ifill and you believe that thats a reliable Transitional Government . Yes, i believe theres a lot of skill inside of this coalition. But the other aspect thats important here is that continuity of government in syria is going to be important. No doubt the regime needs to go. But there are ministries, agencies of government that do provide Vital Services that will be important when the regime goes down and humanitarian asis tan has to flood into the country. Ifill fred hof and murhaf jouejati, thank you very much. Great pleasure, thank you. Woodruff still to come on the newshour an advocate for shrinking taxes; north koreas successful rocket launch; our social media update; a 21,000 mile walk around the world. Plus, indian composer and sitar player ravi shankar. But first, the other news of the day. Heres Hari Sreenivasan. Sreenivasan the push to resolve egypts political crisis hit a road block today after army leaders called off National Unity talks. They said the response had been below expectations. Meanwhile, egyptian expatriates headed to their embassies around the world to begin voting on a draft constitution. Opposition leaders called for a no vote on the islamist crafted document, rather than an outright boycott. Russian president Vladimir Putin sounded a defiant note today on his campaign to curb dissent. In his stateofthenation address, he threw his support to what he called traditional institutions. And he told lawmakers, clerics and other officials that he would not stand for any foreign attempts to influence russian affairs. translated direct or indirect interference in our domestic political processes is unacceptable. Those politicians who receive money from abroad for their political activity and thus serve, in all likelihood, alien interests shouldnt be politicians in the russian federation. Sreenivasan putin won a third term last march, despite major protests. Since then, he has cracked down on dissent, with arrests of activists and strict limits on Civil Society groups. The u. S. Federal reserve is sticking with aggressive efforts to buy government bonds and boost the economy. Fed leaders announced today said theyll continue until unemployment falls below 6. 5 . For more, we spoke earlier with greg ip of the economist. This is very significant. You know the fed, at least since 1977, has had a legal responsibility to aim for both full employment and low inflation. But fed officials traditionally cared a lot more about low inflation because they didnt think that in the long run they could affect unemployment. Todays statement by the fed is essentially an assertion that they, in fact, do care about both those things and that they will keep stimulating the economy until they both get unemployment lower at least down to 6. 5 or if inflation goes up more than they expect. Sreenivasan ben bernanke also had several caveats. Explain those . So ben bernanke, the fed chairman, was very clear that todays statement doesnt represent an abandonment of low inflation. He said, for example, that if inflation were to rise unexpectedly, over 2. 5 in their own forecasts, that might be reason enough for them to start raising Interest Rates even if unemployment has not come down 206. 5 . Sreenivasan markets traditionally love certainty. Why didnt they embrace it today . I think markets are starting to question whether the fed actually has the ability to deliver on this commitment to low unemployment. Theyve got the Interest Rates at 0, they have trillions of dollars worth of bonds and still the economy is very, very weak. Sreenivasan going forward, are there things that we should be looking for as signs from the fed on whats going to happen or should we be paying more attention to Unemployment Rate . Well, the fed has taken one more step today. Theyre doubling the amount of bonds theyre buying by printing money. They call that quantitative easing. But the other factor weighing against them is that they have to see what happens in terms of the fiscal cliff negotiations. Their hope is that those will end with a deal between congress and the president and that will make way for a steady improvement in the economy. Those are the things that they will monitor to see when is the time that they can ease back. Sreenivasan greg ip from the economist, thank you so much for your time. Thank you. Sreenivasan wall street initially rallied on the feds pronouncement, but the enthusiasm quickly flagged and stocks gave up the gains. In the end, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost three points to close at 13,245. The nasdaq fell eight points to close at 3,013. Indianapolis will be the first major American City to replace all cityowned cars with electric and plugin hybrid vehicles. The Program Announced today calls for completing the switch by 2025. The city also plans to phase in fire trucks and other heavy vehicles that run on compressed natural gas. Officials said theyre asking auto makers to create plugin hybrid police cars, which dont yet exist. Retiring u. S. Senator Joe Lieberman said goodbye to the senate today, with an appeal for principled compromise. He warned that gridlock is preventing progress on a host of problems. Lieberman ran as the democratic Vice President ial nominee in 2000. All told, he spent 24 years in the senate, first as a democrat, and since 2006, as an independent. A pantheon of music legends takes the stage tonight in new york, raising money for those hit hardest by hurricane sandy. The program for the 121212 concert includes paul mccartney, bruce springsteen, the rolling stones, kanye west and alicia keys, among many others. The concert and telethon could reach two billion people on radio and t. V. , in movie theaters and on facebook and even digital billboards. Those are some of the days major stories. Now, back to judy. Woodruff negotiators signaled publicly today that there had been little progress in reaching a deal to avert the fiscal cliff with 19 days to go until a yearend deadline. I remain the most optimistic person in this town. But weve got some serious differences. Woodruff that downbeat assessment from House Speaker john boehner came after he and president obama traded fresh offers this week. We spoke honestly and openly about the differences we face. But, the president s calling for 1. 4 trillion worth of revenue. That cannot pass the house or the senate. Woodruff the president originally sought 1. 6 trillion in revenue over 10