Release of a Democratic Party memo on the russia probe citing security concerns plus breaking barriers on election day in sri lanka a Record Number of Women Campaign from local governments. And israeli fighter jet has crashed after an iranian drone was shot down near the border with syria syria says it was responding to an israeli act of aggression state television is reporting explosions from what it says israeli attacks in the damascus well two f. Sixteen pilots ejected from the plane and parachute safely into northern Israel Israeli Army says they were shot at by massive antiaircraft fire they were targeting a military base inside syria suspected of launching an iranian drone which flew towards the Golan Heights lets get more now from joins me from western so whats been the reaction so far inside israel to reports of this f. Sixteen coming down. Well the israelis are squarely blaming the iranians for this they have gone off to what they say are iranian targets inside of syria they say theyve destroyed a command and control center for the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle the drones flew over. Really taking a look at what they should do next now we are hearing that a Cabinet Meeting the government is going to formulate a Cabinet Meeting to discuss what to do next also the minister of defense is meeting right now to see what kind of response of the formulates been a couple of emergency measures take place within israel itself in gori an airport the main airport in tel aviv was shut for about fifteen minutes all flights was suspended there and were also hearing of air raid sirens going off in israeli towns and villages in the north so a lot going on right now but really what the response has been is all about iran its not so much about syria the israelis squarely blaming iran for all of this and they using this as an excuse to really ratchet up the language against iran though there have been about one hundred s. Strikes by israel inside syrian territory in the last seven years weve never seen anything like this an f. Sixteen being shot down suggested that the israelis have a chink in the aroma which is what the syrians will be describing else in the syrian state t. V. Is using language like that so what happens next is absolutely crucial and do expect things to escalate given the role as you say of iran syria israel. Well this is all about iran syria israel like i said the row is this Cabinet Meeting that is being formulated there is a number of Defense Ministry a story one Defense Ministry meeting happening as well so the israelis of formulating their response theyve already responded immediately like i say with this command and control center but theyve long said that they need to take out hezbollah who are fighting inside syria on behalf of assad will they use this excuse to read go off to hezbollah targets on the outskirts of damascus and in the syrian countryside it really depends on you know what the israelis decide to do next its is iran thats in thats how its iranians havent responded yet they need to also decide what they want to do so this is and now i three way battle its a three way political optical battle between the israelis the syrians and the iranians thank you lets cross over now to beirut and talk to saying a honda say no were talking to you earlier you were telling us that israeli air strikes inside syria are not on usual could this latest incident them escalate tensions do you think. Well definitely this is the most serious incident like iran was mentioning between syria israel and iran over the past few years there have been dozens of air strikes carried out by israeli warplanes at the beginning they were targeting what they said were convoys of weapons destined for hezbollah the Lebanese Armed group which is allied to iran and as of late earlier this year they have been targeting what is believed to be iranian bases close to damascus one in one strike they hit a base which was still not operational so it was seen as a message to iran because israel has said time and time again we have red lines we will not allow iran to entrench itself militarily in syria we wont we want to allow iran to be along our borders and to strengthen its presence in syria in fact if we remember last year in the summer when russia and. United states announced the ceasefire agreement in the south of syria this was to appease israel because part of that deal was to keep Iranian Forces and their allies away from the border and at the time not on yahoo this radio Prime Minister was not happy and he said this is not enough so clearly its a very serious incident it is still not clear whether its going to escalate any further but after that plane was shot down israel did carry out another strike in the countryside of damascus were getting reports that they targeted the syrian Republican Guards is still not confirmed and Syrian State Television saying that its air defenses are trying to hit you know are heading back and saying as you were saying that israel has said it has red lines it wont allow iran to cross how do you think then all of this is likely to play out in the midst couple of weeks or so. Well we havent heard from russia a main player really and syria it controls the airspace at the end of the day russia gave its approval to israel to carry out these strikes there is close coordination between moscow and tel aviv and over the past year or so weve seen the israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu visit moscow a number of times hes been holding talks with just two weeks ago i believe the last time he was in moscow and before leaving he said this is what we are going to discuss we do not want iran at our borders so this is quite serious at the end of the day we have to remember that if israel continues carrying out these strikes targeting a basic weapons depots the units of the syrian army and their allies this will weaken the Syrian Government so what will the russian position be we still havent heard from the russians as of yet so you know thank you. Not a leader of north korea kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president to visit pyongyang it happened to be a historic high level meeting between the two sides of the president ial palace in seoul the north korean delegation which includes kim sr is in south korea for the Winter Olympics invitation marks a cooling in tensions on the korean peninsula. Chairman kim jong uns on voip kim jong delivered a letter expressing a willingness to improve relations she also delivered a message from kim jong un that he is willing to meet president moon james in the near future and that he hopes president moon visits the north at a convenient time aljazeera has more now from congo. If this meeting transpires it would be historic this would be the first time that north Korean Leader kim jong un met with a south korean president since taking office in twenty eleven theres been a lot of speculation in the south korean media in the last several days that kim jong un sister kim jong a trusted advisor and high Ranking Party leader was coming with an invite in hand she delivered a letter and virtually asked that president moon come to the north soon at a convenient time president moon says lets arrange that and lets create favorable conditions to make that happen but moon is also saying that although hes keen to reboot into a korean relations that dialogue between the United States and the north is essential and hes encouraging both sides to come together. Narendra modis making the first visit by an indian Prime Minister to the occupied palestinian territories the one day trip to the west bank as part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east these are live pictures coming to us here at aljazeera of the indian Prime Minister there in ramallah lets get more now from Bernard Smith who joins us from Ramallah Bernard lets talk first about the palestinians one of the having to get out of this visit do you think. Well first of all happy that this is the first time an indian Prime Minister has come to the occupied territories and hes not doing it on the back of a visit to israel nobody was in israel last year instead hes doing modis doing it as part of the middle east and gulf states hes just flown in from jordan flown over into the occupied west bank from jordanian the jordanian side its a very very short visit just three hours modi is going to be in town but as i say sigman symbolically significant for the palestinians that hes coming as part of this middle east trip the palestinians are also hoping somehow that the indian Prime Minister will support them as becoming part of the sort of Multilateral Forum that the palestinians are trying to create to advance any talks that might be in the future with the israelis this is because the palestinians no longer trust the u. S. Government to sort of independent arbiter in discussions with israel since Donald Trumps recognition of jerusalem as the capital of the state of israel since then the palestinians have been looking for other ways in which to advance their cause theyve been looking to the e. U. To russia to china and now theyre looking to their old friend india which is also now increasingly close with the Israeli Government and modi and netanyahu are very good personal warm times down im not sure broader assessment burnet about indias priorities here i mean they are vocal supporters of the palestinians but it also seems that israel has become important to. Well as india is modernized indias priorities have changed yes decades ago india and palestine were very very close india was one of the first non arab countries to recognize the state of palestine back in nineteen eighty eight and in those days india viewed its relationship with palestine through this colonial prism india had been colonized by the british and it saw the palestinians being colonized their land being colonized by zionists but times have changed israel is now one of the biggest arms exporters to. It taking forty one percent of israels arms exports india one of the biggest arms exporters in the world importers in the world so the relationship between those two countries is extremely important creasing lee important to the indians and the palestinians reckon the palestinians at least hope to maintain those warm ties and as i say perhaps persuade the indians to be involved in some sort of more Multilateral Forum to advance their cause with the israelis down thank you. Donald trump block the release of a Democratic Party rebuttal to a republican memo on russian meddling in the election the black memo challenges the republican that released last week which accuse the f. B. I. And Justice Department of bias against trunk the president says the democrat memo shouldnt be made public because of National Security concerns me as the latest from washington d. C. The letter from the white house citing significant Law Enforcement and National Security concerns was supported by another document another letter from the Deputy Attorney general Rod Rosenstein and the head of the f. B. I. Christopher ray which goes on to explain that theyre worried about revealing sources and ongoing investigations but it should be noted that the f. B. I. Had the same objections to releasing the republican memo and President Trump went ahead and released it anyway and then after it was released said that the report had quote totally vindicated him of course real democrats saw things much differently they wanted to have a chance to respond they said the republican version of events left out significant facts and they wanted a chance to put that forward even trey gowdy republican on the House Intelligence Committee said that the memo had not in any way discredited the Mueller Investigation so democrats now are crying foul they say this is a double standard and for a president who was talking about transparency when he released the original memo this just didnt make sense the question asked by both the democratic leader of the house and the senate is what is the president hiding of course the white house says that the Justice Department would be happy to work with democrats to revise their memo so that it is able to be released without compromising security and democrats say they will take them up on that offer. For a short break here aljazeera when we come back. He managing it is our president who does not have the consciousness to fight for our old land pressure on the philippines president to stop chinas military expansion on disputed islands plus. And does she in fame gets ready to elect a new leader here in dublin ill be looking at the political journey of gerry adams whos headed the party for decades. By the sky knowing the range and harbor or off the coast of the italian riviera. Hello there weve seen yet more wintery weather over parts of europe this time its france again where weve seen a lot of snow including forests in the capital here weve had around five centimeters of course great if youre active out in it not so great if youre stuck in traffic that area of snow has moved away towards the east now then for many of us in the western parts of europe it is going to turn a lot milder as we head through the next few days so no snow for the coming few days enough thanks to this system here as it works its way eastwards the winds are feeding in behind it dragging up those temperatures so by the time we get to sunday then were looking at a maximum of around eleven in london and around six in paris theres that leading edge of the milder air as it hits the colder air though it is still giving a few outbreaks of snow so we could see some of that in germany for eventually things to malda and the snow begins to turn to rain another area of wet weather to watch over parts of europe is this system down in the southeast is working its way steadily eastwards this giving snow and its more than edges it hits that cold air again further south were seeing a lot of heavy rain and thats pushing its way into turkey as we head through into sunday across the other side of the mediterranean plenty of cloud showing up on our shelves here but in the northwest thats where weve been seeing lots of unsettled weather and thats all clearing. The way the sponsored by qatar. News has never been more available its a constant barrage of it with every day but the message is simplistic you have the brains good logical rational person crazy monsters and misinformation is right dismissal and does not go over well documented accusations and evidence is part of genocide the listening post provides a critical counterpoint trying to bring Mainstream Media narratives at this time on aljazeera. Welcome back a quick reminder the top stories here now to syria an israeli fighter jet has crashed after an iranian drone was shot down near the border with syria syria says it was responding to an israeli act of aggression state television is reporting explosions on what it says are new israeli attacks near damascus. Modis making the first visit by indian Prime Minister to the palestinian territories the trip to the west bank as part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east modi is expected to meet palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas later today. North koreas leader kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president. To visit. The two countries have been holding talks on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics in china. Lets get more now on our top story in the downing of that israeli f. Sixteen warplane im joined in the studio now by modern hes director of policy analysis of the institute for graduate studies marwan good to have you with us again and i think this is the first time that Syrian Air Defenses of brought down an israeli warplane how significant is this i think it is significant although the escalation was widely expected because they. Have been actually attacking iranian and his well law. Targets inside syria almost on a daily basis in recent weeks so we had been expecting this escalation but that. I think this is important because this shows that there is a change and that was often gauge went over syria because we know that there has been an agreement between the russians you know what i think the russians are controlling c. D. s since two thousand and fifteen since two thousand and fifteen and when you see the downing of. The syrians and its allies syria and its allies may have actually. Been given. And new systems Defense Systems. To defend syrian air space i mean that is important in my opinion. We know that netanyahu was in one score last week and he met with president putin we dont more of that meeting actually on that meeting was ended by warning against taking any action is so syria the russians they believe now that the americans. Are coordinating their office in order to counter iran in syria last december there was an agreement between the israelis and americans on a joint walk plan in order to counter iranian