Fighters. An escalation in syrias war an israeli Fighter Jet Crashes while targeting a rainy and positions inside syria. North koreas leader uses be a limp dick backdrop to invite south koreas president to pyongyang. In sports swedens show a color when its the first cold Winter Olympics color taking the song title its five goals up for grabs on day one of the. Turkish military helicopters being shot down in syria during an operation against kurdish fighters turkeys president rajapaksa about of the way and says it happened near the southern had type province hes warning the perpetrators will pay a heavy price turkey has been battling syrian kurds across the border in the region since last months goes straight now jim he joins us from the turkish city of gaziantep near the border with syria so were hearing that claims of responsibility starting to trickle through what do we know at this point jamal. Was a Turkish Military helicopters or mention that was downed initially or was it wasnt clear whether it was downed actually or over syrian airspace or indeed on. The talker side of the border there has been some video that has emerged online and we havent been able to verify it exactly however according to turkish officials namely the Prime Minister benignly oldring he said that two of his countrys soldiers were killed in the downing of that helicopter obviously this is part of the military operations which started roughly two weeks ago that is the. Military operation titled olive branch which was an attempt by the talk show army to essentially root house with the y p g thats the Kurdish Militia that operates on the syrian side of the talkers border and has been attacking targets or soil for some time now turkey says that its linked to the p. K. K. Thats the Kurdistan Workers Party and outlawed group which are in car consider this to be a terrorist organization so since this operation was began this army we have over twenty talker soldiers who have been killed we have at least seven civilians who have been killed by rockets fired by the white p. G. And on the other hand there are reports of at least a hundred and fifty plus y p g fighters being killed there are claims that the Turkish Military has also killed civilians claims that sort of keep strongly denies in fact it says that the reason why this operation is taking longer than it should is because its trying to exert all the possible means to ensure the safety of civilians theres also been video that the that shows why p. G. Another kurdish groups bussing guinn civilians through the city of our which is the main targets of the cyclist operations they claim that they are being used as human shields that is the target in the y. P. G. Obviously say that this is a natural response by the kurds or citizens to protect what they consider to be their city so it is escalating day by day so i mean all right jim out of shales validating us on one situation from gaza and tapping you know hours earlier that an israeli fighter jet crashed near the border. With syria now israel says it believes it was shot down by Syrian Government forces although that still unconfirmed earlier israel reported downing in a rainy and drone that was launched from a syrian base in the homs desert which israel says strayed into its territory also on confirmed because iran dismissed that as ridiculous shortly after that these reilley f. Sixteen crashed in northern israel the jets had been targeting the military base in homs syria says it shot down the plane in response to what its calling an israeli act of aggression both pilots ejected and parachuted into northern israel one was severely injured though in a few moments then a whole lot of world joins us live from beirut but first lets cross over to west jerusalem with emraan hands a last time we spoke to him ron theres a bit of conflicting claims and signals on this one where do we stand now are the israeli raids over. Well the operation is ongoing but we havent heard of any fresh attacks from anywhere inside syria in the last hour or so but the official line is that the operation is ongoing and theyre also not commenting on what brought down the israeli f. Sixteen fighter jets however across social media here the blame is being placed squarely in the hands of iran saying that iran is a big problem for the israelis and has be dealt with very quickly now to the iranians have actually reacted to issued a statement it says shooting down the israeli jet is a clear message the days of carrying out attacks inside syria a go on any new attack will be confronted iran stands by syria against any foolish move by israel so theres a lot of strong reaction coming out from iran theres been about one hundred israeli airstrikes inside syria against various targets including hezbollah convoys and the like what we saw in the last four few a few hours over today is attacks against what they call the iranian targets and against Syrian Defense batteries twelve in total. All right well leave it. On we can continue this question is get some more middle east reaction on this joins us from beirut we know has been laws been speaking out on this one whats the message there. Oh yes hezbollah the Lebanese Armed group allied to iran their media unit issuing a statement but this time around it was not signed by hezbollah but signed by syrias allies so iran you know hezbollah the Iranian Revolutionary guard all of them issuing this statement saying that any syrian aggression or an aggression against the Syrian Government or the syrian or syria will be met with course so clearly a very tough response and as iran was mentioning the iranians as well saying there is a message that as of today you know the downing of the jet is a message that you know they cant fly over syria and hit targets in syria without going unpunished so harsh rhetoric really it was a serious incident a serious confrontation but for now it seems both sides have taken a step back theyve given each other messages we know what israels red lines are it said this for some time now it will not allow to iran and its allies to entrench itself militarily in syria now Syrian Government and its allies have their message of their own their own red line stop hitting us now russia in the russian position is quite interesting saying that the syrian territorial integrity needs to be respected and we all know that israel has been hitting syria for some time now and the only reason why you can do that and fly unchallenged in syrian airspace is because it has the russian approval so now russia calling for restraint and you know saying that syrias territorial integrity should be respected behind the scenes in all of this is there a dispute over the idea of an attempt to create a sort of zone area in the south of syria where iranian troops would not be able to deploy. This is what israel wants it is what not on yahoo the israeli Prime Minister has been discussing discussing with the russian president Vladimir Putin for some time now a buffer zone in the south of syria keep those Iranian Forces away from the border at least forty to fifty kilometers from the border now there was a cease fire agreement which was announced last summer announced by the russian president and the american President Donald Trump saying that this cease fire will take effect in southern syria it was a way to appease the israelis but nothing ever said the agreement did not address the Iranian Military ambitions so they are still unhappy with this agreement we heard the israeli ambassador to russia saying that you know we would like to see hezbollah and the other forces move away from the border so this is what israel wants and well get to it is hard to say but clearly the iranians putting on a very tough face tough rhetoric coming from the iranians. From beirut and the russian government says its concerned by the latest developments in syria moscow is calling on all sides to exercise restraint and respect syrias sovereignty rejecting any involvement in dismissing claims it sent a drone into israel is ridiculous and says iran only provides military advice to syria meanwhile the iran back Lebanese Group has explained warning any aggression towards the Syrian Government will be met with force the u. N. Human Rights Office says syria and russian air strikes have killed two hundred thirty people in some of the walls worst violence over this past week the u. N. High commissioner for human rights says some of those strikes may constitute war crimes as a brother of the same says his office has received toxic agents may be used last sunday in the rebel held town of. Province. There under modi has ramped up the First Official visit by an indian Prime Minister to the palestinian territory hes met palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas a trip to the west bank as part of a three nation tour to strengthen ties with the middle east earlier he laid a wreath from the tomb of former Palestinian LeaderYasser Arafat and smith has more from ramallah its a very short visit three hours he flew over took a helicopter from the jordanian side landed here in the occupied west bank and is leaving in about an hour or so time now from the Indian Perspective this is a visit aimed they said helping build up palestinian capacity in the Health Technology and education areas there investing in a Technology Park here in motors also opening a school that the indians have helped fund its a very different to the relationship from from the early relationship decades ago between the indians and the palestinians the unions were the first to record the first non arab state back in one nine hundred eighty eight to recognize the state of palestine and then they viewed their relationship through the sort of colonial prism the indians are being colonized by the british and they saw the palestinians as being colonized by zionists palestinian territory being colonized by zionists so then there was a lot more solidarity today the indian relationship is much more pragmatic israel is what really matters to india forty one percent of israels arms exports go to india so its that thats important but modi has decided to separately visit the west bank to show that they still believe there is a sort of special relationship if you like between the palestinians and the indians can be a tender is an associate fellow at the Observer Research foundation he says the palestinian situation does not resonate with the indians as it once did. I think with this music visit more these basically sort of really creating an old indian policy before more they got elected. His constituency specifically in india. Is very pro israel so i think this is a continuation a sort of a bond of support that modi is showing that hes not going to be changing india historic stance on on on the palestine territory and that. India is going to continue and support. The palestine cause but this is also a soft hyphenation between how india approaches israel and how india approaches approaches palestine so india israel knows that is what india stands on palestine is and palestine knows what is an investor and some israelis and they are both respective of this position by new delhi without actually dragging new delhi into the internal affairs of the of the conflict but from a very Public Discourse perspective. Within india and the cause of palestine does not resonate as strongly as it perhaps used to at a point of time. Then wilson is very much more interested today in Economic Prosperity domestic security than be troubled by what is happening happening in palestine. Plenty more still ahead on the news hour including a german city divided the decision to no longer house refugees has people up in arms on both sides of the divide plus. It is our president who does not harm the consciousness. And pressure on the philippines president to stop chinas military expansion on disputed islands. And its for why the worlds best plans hockey players for them to go. On our top story now the escalation in syrias war as we said earlier these really army says irans responsible for a severe violation of israeli sovereignty what exactly is irans role then in the syrian conflict or the iran is a staunch financial supporter of syrian president Bashar Al Assads government its also been supplying military advisors and special forces on the ground its believed iran has armed and trained hezbollah fighters from lebanon who are fighting alongside Syrian Government forces in the west israel is concerned about the iranian president s near the Israeli OccupiedGolan Heights it doesnt want any is iranian expansion towards its own border so far. As a political commentator and professor of media news faculty joins us from tehran good to have you with us first of all what you make of suggestions that iran was trying to test the boundaries of its influence by flying a drone into israeli airspace. Hello and thanks for having me well as a matter of fact the joint Operations Room thats run by iran syria russia and hizbullah in syria and in the war against terrorism in there they have stressed that their drone base at the four in central holmes province in central syria has come under attack by the ease release and they have rejected these really allegations that theyre drone was flying into Israeli Aerospace stressing that theyre drone and never come close even to the borders with syria with israel basically speaking this is nothing new israel has been you know raiding theory and facilities military facilities in various parts of the country for the last several years that the country has been gauged in war on various militant groups theyve been giving medical treatment on their soil in occupied Golan Heights to the end nostra and other militant groups theyve been giving free pass to them to move from northwestern syria to southwest through the israeli territory they have been. Raiding Syrian Forces as soon as they win a battle in contact right and likely bring it back. We can make out the iranians and allegations about them having a relationship with with the former front but when come back to the point. About irans position in this does iran see an opportunity perhaps what due to the pullback of some of the Opposition Forces opposed to the Syrian Regime that it has an opportunity to perhaps try and extend its zone of influence. You know iran and its allies in syria they are looking at this story this single incident in for them as well as similar incidents in the past as a serious provocation by the Israeli Regime because now the war the proxy war is coming to an end this war of attrition after seven years as the israelis are trying to weaken Syrian Military capability by escalating tensions we just saw that the americans also staged an attack very wild attack on syrian troops for the third or fourth times just a couple of days ago and killed tens of syrian soldiers it appears that now that the war is coming to an end syria israel and the United States they are trying to escalate the situation in order to you know prepare the ground for their scheme thats partitioning syria one part is done by israel that aims to settle some hundreds of thousands of refugees in southwestern syria on the Golan Heights and force this theory and government and its allies to step back from those areas in the south working theory in order to give some room to various militant groups to at minister this kind of camp in there in order to drive events gets in eastern and western can i interact and create a buffer zone in the region so a rainy and are seeing this as part of the larger scheme run by tel aviv and washington in pursuit of their goals in syria to partition the country and lay a siege on the theory and government on the damascus government really that now thanks for analysis on that. North koreas leader kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president and jay and to visit pyongyang moon hosted kim sister for talks and solve the sidelines of the Winter Olympics natasha lame has more from guns. In the president ial blue house in the capital seoul relations between the two koreas continued to thaw the meeting had two firsts kim jong is the first member of the ruling family to cross into the south since the korean war the sister of the north Korean Leader came with the first ever invitation kim jong un is asking south korean president moon jay in to come to pyongyang at a convenient time soon little know its key president moon said early talks between north korea and the United States are essential to improve relations north korea to be more proactive to move forward to have a dialogue with the United States. Its unclear when that might happen the u. S. And north korea have rebuffed moves attempts so far if an interesting meeting transpires it will be the first time kim jong un has met with the south korean president since assuming power in twenty eleven the last time leaders from the north and south met was eleven years ago during a summit in p. R. Because of all th