Come on peter dhabi youre watching aljazeera live from our headquarters here in doha also coming up talks on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics south koreas leader is invited to visit the north. Breaking barriers in sri lanka a Record Number of women campaigning to be elected. Thousands march against racism in the italian city where african migrants were shot. Ok your top story the downing of an israeli fighter jet by Syrian Forces has raised tensions across the region the israeli f. Sixteen was on a mission inside syria targeting what israel says are iranian bases there the aircraft wreckage and pilots landed in israeli territory it all began when israel says it intercepted an iranian drone flying in its airspace israel says the drone came down from syria it responded with a major air raid inside syrian territory targeting what it claims are iranian bases on the way back from that mission israeli jets came under syrian antiaircraft fire and thats when the f. Sixteen was hit israeli jets then launched another cross border air raid hitting twelve Syrian Government and iranian targets is believed to be israels most significant attack against syria since one thousand nine hundred eighty two imran khan reports now from west jerusalem. In the early hours of saturday morning syrias war escalated to a new level for the first time in thirty years israel lost a fighter jet to enemy fire as israel confirmed Syrian Air Defense shot at one of its f. Sixteen fighter jets these really ply minister was blunt it was roles iran and its are responsible for todays aggression we will continue to do whatever is necessary to protect our sovereignty and our security the crash followed the shooting down of a drone israeli army video shows what they say is the iranian drone flying towards the norden Golan Heights before it was downed in retaliation Israeli Air Force at targets in syria including the suspected Drone Command Center iranian targets and Syrian Air Defense syria launched surface to air missiles during the israeli raid and says it shot down the f. Sixteen which crashed in northern israel at the hands of. The syrian Political Leadership took a decision at the highest level to face to thaw simply any Israeli Military aircraft over syrian in space today syria did what it promised to put down in israeli plane and striking at other planes this is clear for syria it is a decisive decision to confront the Israeli Air Force and its careless behavior. Both pilots ejected and parachuted to these re side of the border one is critically injured the Israeli Army Spokesman said it was wrong it was behind the launch of the drawing but didnt say whether it was armed or not the iranians have reacted theyve said that they are going to stand with syria against any fully snus by israel the russians have also reacted saying that israel needs to respect syrian site to state sovereignty also what were hearing is that the israelis want to send a strong message to the russians to get iran out of the region iran can aljazeera western muslims. So in basra view has more now on the reaction to the incident from the iranian capital tehran Irans Foreign Ministry said that the assertion that iran would fly a drone into israeli air space is a ridiculous lie but iranian leaders celebrated syrias retaliatory response to israeli airstrikes speaking to all jazeera the parliamentary spokesman on National Security and Foreign Policy said that the downing of a fighter plane was just a taste of what is to come if israel continues its aggressive policies in. China this shooting down in confrontation has some important messages first to design this regime should know that the era of hit and run tactics is gone and regional powers including syria lebanon and hezbollah have enough capabilities to confront aggression and these capabilities belong to these countries the zionist regime should not associate these capabilities with iran or other countries they are saying that an iranian drone shot down the warplane or an Iranian Military force did it this is a distortion to divert Public Opinion with so many Different Actors in the syrian conflict with often simultaneously converging and verging agendas there is always a worry that an incident like this could open another front in the fighting speaking at a News Conference president Hassan Rouhani said that israels policy of bombardment is a mistake and that while iran is prepared to defend itself and its allies in the region he said that the best way for neighbors to get along is to cooperate trita parsi is the president of the National IranianAmerican Council hes also the author of losing an enemy obama iran and the triumph of diplomacy he joins us now from reston virginia to try to policy the central israeli and a geisha in here has been for a long time there is a freshly emboldened a freshly confident iran operating on the ground in syria is that accurate. To a certain extent it is accurate because the balance of power in the region has shifted over the course of the last ten years and this is something that the israelis and the saudis have been very concerned about and part of the root of that is that the United States has become significantly weakened over the course of the last ten fifteen years as a result of its invasion of iraq and states that are very dependent on the United States for their own security primarily the saudis are obviously going to suffer tremendously from a declining american position in the region and the iranians certainly have managed to extend their influence throughout this period but none of this is irreversible in fact the main problem right now is that there is a tremendous amount of fluidity and very very little diplomacy taking place thats why this is such an explosive mix right now how can it not be irreversible if youve got some people are saying a dozen quote militaries involved in whats going on in this conflict as far as israel is concerned the red line would be presumably iran becoming a direct act not just hiding behind those allegations and claims but actually fessing up i guess and saying yes we are involved in this and we will stay involved in this. Well i think its important to keep in mind this is not the first time that theres been an iranian drone that either has gone into israeli territory or been very close by nor is it unusual that there have been israeli drones going into iranian territory flying from various different places as well as israeli assassinations the iranian scientists so there has been a deliberate war going on between the two countries for quite some time the question if this is now escalating to a completely new level and part of the challenge here again goes back to that there are no powers with the potential exception of russia that has enough power in and of itself and the kids had a city to talk to both the iranians and to use the israelis in order to deescalate under previous circumstances the United States might have had a stronger capacity to do so even though it didnt have much connections to the iranians where right now the United States is not really in a position to do that much and that is further making the situation explosive ok just to be clear about that last particular point trita parsi what happens if the trumpet ministration slash general cousineau does not say to Benjamin Netanyahu look this cannot be step change but what happens after that if russia doesnt say that either well if there are no efforts from the outside to constrain this conflict then clearly there is going to be a higher risk of escalation but its also going to be very important to see what happens just in the next couple of days the israelis have extensively bombarded parts of syria right now. Is there going to be any attack from the lebanese side or from the syrian side into israeli territory if that doesnt happen then perhaps were destroy them around there isnt the escalation but until there actually is proper diplomacy taking place there is going to be a continuation of this explosive mix in which at any point things can really go in the wrong direction trita parsi there in reston virginia always good to get your take on these ongoing stories coming to us out of syria many thanks thank you so much. Well the Turkish Military helicopter has been shot down in Northern Syria during an operation against kurdish fighters there this video is said to show the helicopter moments before it was hit in the three men killing two soldiers on board kurdish Led Syrian Democratic forces say its fights or shot down the aircraft but he says the cause is still unclear a total of eleven turkish soldiers were killed in fighting on saturday making that the deadliest day for the countrys forces since they began the campaign in after in the last month the north Korean Leader kim jong un has extended a rare invitation to the south korean president in to visit pyongyang hosted kim sr for talks in seoul on the sidelines of the Winter Olympics especially going to has more from kong norm. In the president ial blue house in the capital saw 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 lose 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. Jordan because of all the global attention i believe reunification will be brought forth the government is making efforts and i think people are rooting for it organizers of the olympics say theyve been moved by the diplomatic breakthrough it was quite on the story a moment. And something that as you know the i. O. C. Has been generally working for since probably two thousand and fourteen. And you know i think it shows it opens opens the door maybe just a little bit critics say they doubt that door will ultimately open much more for now there is hope that the Winter Olympics is the catalyst for a reboot in intercourse and relations natasha going to aim el jazeera south korea it can foster is a korea analyst he says kim jong il is trying to drive a wedge between the u. S. And south korea. I think that a great deal of it is about santa i must say kim jong un and north korea who we dont always associate with subtlety and a played a blinder im they both come in the last minute well must take a logo made themselves the center of attraction politically but the at these games and its left to the u. S. Vice president mike pence to look like the grumpy old month standing up for what is the international communitys position so kim jong uns game really is to drive a wedge between the u. S. And south korea and a pension i see keeps reiterating that there is no daylight but i think now that the invitations being made for the summit all kinds of questions arise should moon j. M. Guy who should he go unconditionally should he insists that north korea should also talk to the u. S. All those kinds of questions will be vigorously debated i think between the allies and in the south korean media votes are being counted in sterling cure all for us most peaceful election for decades but its the first vote since electoral laws will change those allowed a Record Number of women to campaign for a seat in a local government smell fernandez has more now from colombia choosing members of three hundred forty two local government institutions observers say volta turnout was higher than expected some districts reporting eighty five percent of voters had a clear idea of what they wanted from their local representatives corruption is a big problem so somebody who is less corrupt somebody who is that you cant tell and of course somebody with the region can do something for the community to another vote to said changes to the electoral system has made things easier. To. Previous system do the much more thing but the system for the water its a new mixed result system which candidate wins the most votes and which party has the most support. The changes also included a quarter of twenty five percent for women this election monks a number of us the first time so many women have contested the first time votes are being counted in Polling Centers like the one behind me and the fust time election violence has been so low observers say there is a marked change in the conduct of campaigns and the election the main election organize a credits hard work main thing is real if you care good the people not to break the law through the Law Enforcement of the law re. Conduct of prepared. Despite being a local election which is usually about issues in local neighborhoods the campaign took on the flavor of a National Election prison might the palace city saina Prime Minister i know become a singer and the men they united to defeat by in the rajapaksa were heavily involved in the campaign travelling around the country to support their respective candidates the stakes for each of them are high and the results of this grassroots race will point towards the political board in the run up to the general election in two years and if an end as al jazeera colombo still ahead here on aljazeera the philippines president pushes to change the constitution but critics say its a power grab. And life and shadow will report on the psychological impact the high murder rate is having on people in the mexican city of acapulco. Hello there were seeing some rather active weather across parts of north america at the moment too thanks to this weather system here is joining forces with whats going on around the gulf of mexico this is injecting plenty of moisture into that weather system and so we are going to see a lot of heavy rain and a lot of heavy snow as we head through the next few days of course most of the rain is in the south but its also ahead of that main feature because then you see the cold air begin to dig in and thats where we see this snow so plenty of heavy snow around the Great Lakes Region there on sunday by monday its gradually easing off as it works its way towards the east that system though still bringing us a lot of heavy rain to the southeast parts even as we head through monday towards the west generally speaking its a lot quieter here but we are seeing this little patch of cloud over the rockies that could just give us one or two rather intense snowstorms there were further towards the south and of course in Central America thats fine and dry is just in the northern parts of our map were seeing the cloud thats just the tail end of whats going on over north america really further south draw i still for most of us here just the occasional shower of costa rica is stretching its way further north into nicaragua as well for south america lots of have to share hours here as weve seen recently plenty of them around brazil including course in rio and further west more showers to. On counting the cost of wild swings for Global Stock Markets look at whats going on and why it matters how women in twenty eighteen are still fighting in the workplace. Defying expectations but will it make life more difficult for counting the cost at this time. I really felt liberated as a journalist was. Getting to the truth as i was. Watching aljazeera a reminder of our top stories this hour russia and the u. S. Say theyre concerned after israel launched a second series of strikes syria one of the sixteen fighter jets were shot down by president assets forces the strikes targeted government and alleged iranian assets inside syria. North Koreas Kim Jong il has invited south koreas president to pyongyang for talks hosted kim sr in seoul on the sidelines of the pics. And being counted in sri lanka for its most peaceful election for decades its the first votes and laws changed allowing a Record Number of women to campaign for a seat in local government. Now the philippines president roderigo to say wants to change the constitution and switch to a new form of government he says its a way to decentralize power to the regions and help alleviate poverty but critics say its just a trick to keep government officials in jobs. As more. Former philippines president for didnt marcus ruled with an iron fist for decades his marshall rule was seen by many filipinos as oppressive in one nine hundred eighty six the people power revolution removed him from office ushering in a new era of democracy the one nine hundred eighty seven philippine constitution was drafted with an emphasis on bringing about social justice past president s have tried to change that constitution in the hope of prolonging their st