Hello im Barbara Farah this is the news hour live from london thank you for joining us coming up in the next sixty minutes Gunmen Attack a crowded mosque in egypts sinai region killing at least two hundred thirty five people president sisi is vowing revenge. Urges zimbabweans to put the past behind them as hes sworn in as president. Im going. To live. Well. As the Saudi Led Coalition continues to block aid to yemen warnings that fuel will run out by the end of the week. And calls for Government Action after a beijing Child Care Center is accused of drugging and one less thing toddlers. And sport the tennis season isnt quite over for some of the biggest stars of the mens game the davis cup final is underway between belgium and france and its tied up why dont more on that story coming up later. Egypts military has carried out air strikes in the sinai region after Gunmen Attacked a mosque killing at least two hundred thirty five people and injuring dozens more the attackers better nature the bomb then opened fire on fleeing worshippers and ambulances it happened during friday prayers at a packed mall skin be it all a bed mohamed junk jew reports. The bomb and gun attack happened during friday prayers at the mosque in. Egypts northern Sinai Peninsula local sources say the attackers planted explosives and then opened fire on worshippers while the sermon was underway. Looks like it was. Not really clear this motive was i know its my responsibility yet but its very possibly. They have turned into this in the last. Night. Egyptian forces have for years battled armed groups in the countrys rugged and remote Sinai Peninsula attacks on Security Forces have been frequent like this car bomb explosion the targeted a Police Station in a lot in two thousand and fifteen really is i know theres been a lot of. Fighting between isis and Security Forces there for years now. And so. A lot of. Area president im going to put that has sisi convened an emergency meeting of Security Officials has that had this this tragic event act of terrorism will make us more robust more strong i was battle against terrorism we cannot be intimidated i will result cannot be dented we would remain more united what we need to vent the army will take revenge and they will restore order and security with an iron fist in the following day. As shock sets in and an investigation begins the Egyptian Government has declared three days of mourning my mage and. Well egypts Security Forces have been battling eisel fighters in sinai for years resulting in hundreds of deaths at least forty eight soldiers and Police Officers have been killed just this year one of the worst attacks was in july when twenty three soldiers died after a suicide car bombs tore through two military checkpoints. In the last few months theres been a rise in attacks targeting local tribes who work with the armed forces i saw brands them traitors for cooperating with soldiers and the Police Another major target is Coptic Christians in february dozens of christian families fled the region after a number of killings by suspected eisel fighters while in the hours that followed the attack International Condemnation to it has been quite quick the white house says called on the International Community to strengthen efforts to defeat terrorist groups while the u. S. President on trump tweeted that it was a quote horrible horrible and cowardly terrorist attack on defenseless worshippers israels hard line Education Minister enough taliban it also says its time for International Unity in the war on terror and the british Prime Minister of tourism a says she is appalled by the sickening attack and sends condolences to all of those affected for more on this lets speak to omar sure hes a visiting professor of Security Studies at the arab center for research and policy studies in doha thanks for joining us here on aljazeera first of all your reaction to this attack which as weve seen is nothing new as such in the Sinai Peninsula but it is quite shocking simply by a by the size of the number of fatalities. Yeah as you mentioned its there are a few bits here first. Egypts worst terrorist attack in its modern history even worse than the. Metro jet airliner bombing. In october in two thousand and fifteen the fatalities then what about two hundred twenty four this time it exceeds two hundred thirty and the. More than one hundred people of more than one hundred nine people injured as well. The other new thing there is that the this is the first time they attack a mosque. Or isis. Has attacked mosques before in places like yemen gonna stand in iraq i think its the first time to attack a sufi mosque in egypt before that they executed two well known sophie sheiks in in in sinai. And did have propaganda video on the whole thing accused them of being. Magicians of some sort and they killed them accordingly but then this is the first time they just attack on without any discrimination and that way before that they used to attack soldiers and officers dissuade without any discrimination and also attack some of the israel obviously they do that on the mumblings and read random attacks but this is the first time they choose a specific religious group and attack it in a mosque that way. The third bit is that they keep on transferring strategies so they. Are used to attack again in a conventional way more or more less like special forces Convention Special forces large formations support for with light artillery support with guided missiles guided rockets and then retreat after that in the most famous attack was that on his way to. In july twenty fifteen when attacked twenty one targets with twenty one formations and after that retreated. And then they they know more and more rely on guerrilla strategies or attack with small formations and then disappeared after that in the desert or in the and sometimes in urban areas but also theyve been relying heavily on urban terror on this kind of attacks attacking easy targets soft targets civilian targets and they did this with some of the churches before some of the coptic christian population in sinai as you know the many of the families have left and fled but this time they do it to a mosque primarily. That is affiliated with would suffer orders with egyptians who orders they come from the if its if its sinai province of course it comes from her hubby background in terms of the ideology and the ideological and dogmatic rift between sufism and we have islam is very well known. And omar just so you know were seeing pictures of course on our screens right now just a horrific scenes of the aftermath of that attack two hours ago we heard from president sisi he spoke publicly he said he vowed to restore order and security and he mentioned you do it with an iron fist but certainly they must be questions about security in sinai its very difficult i know to get information out of sonic as for example media is it really allowed but there must be huge questions now about how this actually was possible the two hundred thirty five dead hundreds more injured i mean is this going to stick do you think the president when it comes to the fact that he has been ineffective in keeping security. Overall youre right the overall strategy was extremely ineffective we saw before twenty fifteen you know this is not the crisis is not a new crisis its an old crisis but before twenty thirteen it was a minor crisis it was a minor group that is operating in the very northeastern more stop its attacks on its borders and the most successful attack that back then it killed around sixteen people. And it would happen three times a year three to four times a year the attacks now the frequency of attacks according to the arms center which is official is about three attacks. In attack daily and attack daily since two thousand and fourteen so for three years you have an attack per day in sinai of some sort which is you know that puts it in the size in the medium level insurgency not a low level insurgency and this is after the extreme escalation in the use of force in the military operations there that started in september twenty thirty two or now in november twenty seven four years later and we have this kind of and mind you. The organization operates in not very geographically rugged area so theres not much mountains most of the mountains are in the center and in the south of sinai so theres not much. Geographical zones that they can escape to. Theres no not that much Popular Support you know that every clan is divided not every tribe every tribe obviously is divided that mosque was it was mostly a tribe affiliates that go to most of the leaders of some of the leaders of sinai province are from the silica tribe so even the tribe is very much divided but moreover they do they have no external support so they are at war with israel at war with hamas at war with the egyptian regime and at war with some of the affiliates the local affiliates of various tribes in. Having all this data means that this should have ended but it. Not mainly because of the ineffective counterterrorism tactics and counter strike the counterinsurgency tactics that have been using been used in sinai for the last four years or more to shore from the arab center for research and policy studies. Omar thank you know history has been made in zimbabwe where the first a new president in thirty seven years has been sworn into office in his inauguration speech and. Promised to create jobs reimburse farmers whose lands were seized and stamp out corruption he also paid his respects to his predecessor Robert Mugabe for me to miller was at the ceremony in harare and sent us this report. A new and unfolding democracy is how amazon when i go describes his ascent to power even if it took a military intervention to end Robert Mugabes presidency tens of thousands of zimbabweans waited for hours to watch my god was swearing into office and inauguration meant to cement the veneer of a politically driven solution from within the ruling zanu p. F. I will protect and provide the writers of the people of zimbabwe and start for up myself. With the way he. And his people. In attendance the heads of state of zimbabwes neighbors not here though the South African and and golden president instead meeting in south africa for a heads of state visit the prisons here today of u. K. Representatives may signal a possible end to zimbabwes isolation from the west seoul ever. This day is a whole about the people on and off what has praised and thanked the baldwins for the role they played in getting rid of Robert Mugabe who was in power for fifty seven years but was the baldwins that is about more than gratitude its about the promise of a new future one that they hope the new president will make good on today im so happy because there are three new president s and so. Its going to be the first president homologs i was going to and everything is going to be good this changes for britain do have floodgates for us up the German Economy its about was going to to be up there were expecting the new change to happen and its like what you used to live in all countries involved is a very loving country and im happy because over this happened with violence. Was when i got a form of liberation fighter nicknamed the crocodile for his uncompromising approach to politics begins his presidency under pressure with exorbitant Government Spending crumbling Public Services and facilities and few jobs for its people zimbabwe needs its economy resuscitated and elections are scheduled for next year. But for now zimbabweans hold their new president aloft revealing as if you already are of a Second Chance for me to mina al jazeera. Well emerson is known as the crocodile among zimbabweans an animal famed and feared for its self and ruthlessness the seventy five year old served mugabe loyally for decades they fought together in zimbabwes independence struggle and he became the former president s main enforcer when god wot was security minister in one nine hundred eighty three when an estimated twenty thousand people were killed in a brutal crackdown on mugabes opponents in the countrys east he denies being responsible for the atrocities when god was thought to have amassed the considerable fortune he was named in a un investigation into exploitation of Mineral Resources in democratic republic of congo and led the charge to make a Diamond Trading hub and he remains under u. S. Sanctions for his alleged role in another crackdown in the two thousand and eight president ial election this prevents him from traveling to america or holding a bank account there well with us i spoke to people hirai about their hopes for the country and their president well. Nearly everyone you talk to here says they expected Robert Mugabe to die in office not resign after the military intervened they did it every day on state t. V. They started to believe it. But now mugabes former right hand man imma say when i go isnt always a new president after decades of economic stagnation high unemployment and political repression people have High Expectations when we drew up and going to school in the ninetys we had everything i mean agriculture drove down the roads down the highways it was repealed was tobacco it was cotton it was everything happening you went to the Industrial Areas there was smoke coming out now when you go its dilapidated theres nothing going on there so we want to see that again just a very vibrant zimbabwe. Oh when i goes close and i say they are confident the rulings on a party will work with opposition parties. And the White Community we have been reaching out to the opposition with absolute confidence that in our division is more than gender. On an even keel and they are going to be. This is reaching out to the White Community than. Some of those who marginalized. This country thats good news to those who feel the policies hurt the country economically many people here are under the age of forty seven and thats why the president is saying all the right things will be jobs life will improve for the poor people of course optimistic change if it happens will take time no one knows how long itll take for the economy to recover some people say its too late for them they believe theyll always be poor but they hope their children will have a Better Future im good four years old i was born three years after independence rides. You see. People are frustrated and impatient they say they are tired of being called a nation of vendors president has made a lot of promises he needs to manage expectations and deliver on some of those promises to convince him that its no longer business as usual how do we toss al jazeera. Ellie mae gerry and president mohamed to bihari is being urged by his partys governors to run for a second term to prefer preserve the strengths of their organization bar is vice president. Quit the party on friday and this considering running in the next president ial election seventy four year old boy hari has been absent for weeks at a time as he seeks treatment in the u. K. For an undisclosed illness critics have questioned whether he will be fit to run again in two thousand and nineteen. Well coming up on this news hour from london at londons busiest shopping district is shut down during its busiest only they posted a Period Police say there is no evidence which suspects shots or casualties. Argentinas navy continues its hunt for a missing submarine carrying forty four crew members the president says it will be found within days and then sports its another record breaking day for valentine holes as australia reached the Rugby League World cup final warning that coming up. The u. S. Is calling on the Saudi Led Coalition to fully implement its measures to ease the blockade on yemen including steps to ensure that food fuel and medicine reach civilians through the unfiltered flow of aid the u. N. Is warning the largest fuel importing companies in yemen say they wont be able to supply consumers there by the end of the week the Saudi Led Coalition has also agreed to allow u. N. Aid workers to return to the country from saturday but the u. N. Says its still blocking them from bringing in much needed food medicine and equipment we stress the critical importance of also commercial imports in particular a few supplies for our humanitarian response humanitarians are serving the needs of seven Million People who are completely dependent lost. When human Rights Groups are calling for International Agencies to monitor the repatriation of range of muslims to me and more as the uns Refugee Agency says its still not safe for them to go back me and laura in bangladesh signed a pact on thursday that will allow those this place to go home once their paperwork is completed but the Advocacy GroupHuman Rights Watch has the swiss that as a publicity stunt and says the refugees must be gu