A cancer of hatred in america after 5 or stabbed at a jewish celebration. Get now tens of thousands of a stray and still to leave their homes as bush fires flare in another state. Their warm welcome to this hour of news well the u. S. Is calling them precision defensive strikes they are iraq the Prime Minister has labeled them quote im acceptable an american attack on the bases of a shia armed group close to the Syrian Border is causing new friction 3 camps of cuts a of hezbollah our hits in iraq one of them near all kind and 2 more inside syria at least 19 people have been killed well the pentagon says its in response to repeated rocket attacks on iraq he bases the most recent one killed an american civilian contract to just a few days ago well Simona Fulton explains why these targeted airstrikes appear to be an important shift in u. S. Action in iraq. Well there are quite significant because this is actually the 1st time that the u. S. Actually strikes a target on iraq his soil lets remember not until too long ago the u. S. And were fighting against eisel on the same side but of course since then the tensions between the u. S. And iranian backed groups have played a quite a bit in this particular ad attack were hearing from a source inside the p. M. S. Has claimed as many as 10 lives with dozens of people injured and of course this particular strike comes at the back of a series of rocket attacks that were aimed at military bases where both of us and iraqi personnel are based in the u. S. Attributed some of these attacks took a type hezbollah the last one happened last friday and for the 1st time it actually claimed the life of one u. S. Contractor and it injured several u. S. Personnel now of course secretary of state my pompei o has said before that any such attack that harm u. S. Troops or their allies would be met with decisive force so this strike is basically a response to that now it does present a departure from the previous stance of the u. S. When it basically tried to urge the Iraqi Government to rein in groups like a type and hezbollah reminding the government that it is responsible for the safety of u. S. Troops because of course they are here at the invitation of the government so this is these strikes represent a departure from the policy in a sign that the u. S. Is now taking matters into its own hands well i have to she have returned see hes standing by in washington d. C. Hi there she has so what are we hearing men from the u. S. Well the defense secretary and the secretary of state might compare have flown down to florida to brief president from we understand will show now where the crew of the joint chiefs chairman is also that the reports that he was but compare and as briefing we understand we should also add that theres been no claim of responsibility for these attacks or the attack in cook on friday in fact just on saturday an Iraqi Government spokesperson said perhaps it was the Islamic State but nonetheless the u. S. Has decided after many many warnings weve already heard that to confront a shia militia in in iraq the problem is well 1st of all we should also add that this is being presented as the 1st time this has happened but actually shia militia have been saying for some months now that this far as theyre concerned theyve already been the target of u. S. Or israeli air strikes on the weapons caches and command and control centers and so on so as usual we get these conflicting conflicting claims its all a bit murky but the main problem now is this particular group is part of the popular movie allies ation force which was was banded together a number of different militias in order to fight successfully the Islamic State and since july the pm af this have come under the control this on paper of the Iraqi Government the iraqi army so what we have just witnessed that is the u. S. Bombing the Iraqi Administration and all of the Iraqi Administration this is clearly quite a big deal and she have what other way given the significance that youve just mentioned going forward. Well as we heard there was a firm cool to the iraqi Prime Minister off an hour before the strikes began marcus foden the iraqi Prime Minister informing him of the strikes now as we also heard the iraqi Prime Minister said no this is really a violation of iraqi sovereignty who the attacks off and the u. S. Did not know obviously that also has ramifications for international more north of the u. S. Is terribly but oh but that has been in the past but now we have to think about escalation of the big fan or is escalation of any sort of battle between the u. S. And shia militias in the United States will then ill be retaliation own the u. S. Thats one thing out because this is coming at the same time as there is this outpouring of iraqi nationalism on the streets of iraq where the slogan is youre neither the my the american nor irans want to see what ramifications this what the Prime Minister cools violation of iraqi sovereignty is going to have on that debate she had britain see there joining us live with the latest from washington d. C. She have thank you well the issue for iraq is that could save his butt allies possible group that helped the government defeat i still its been brought into a state sanctioned group of militias known as the Popular Mobilization forces and many of them are backed by iran well thats a hizbullahs leader abu mahdi army on this is one of iraqs most powerful men and has in the past fought against u. S. Forces with u. S. State Department Says he advises irans revolutionary guard well Kenneth Katzman is the author of the warriors of Islamic Revolutionary guard he joins us on skype from awning tim in virginia kenneth warm welcome to the program will the u. S. Have warned it would strike back it has what do you think this strike will achieve anything. Thank you hers cost of speaking in a personal capacity it was had limited objectives secure was a very targeted strike on certain bases ammunition dumps. Perhaps certain are rockets facilities of the tape is below iran backed militia. The question is what the reaction is going to be on the part of particularly iran because obviously this was a militia linked to iran and the reaction of the Iraqi Government which already the care tech approach minister adl abdul moxy who has tried to straddle the United States and iran and be friendly with both has. Said it was an instrument of iraqi sovereignty so. The strike could potentially cause problems in the u. S. Iraq relationship and kenneth at our correspondent she had noted there youve got this pouring of iraqi nationalism weve got an all time low when relations between the u. S. And iran so i guess as you say the big fears are escalation and potentially retaliation. Correct i mean i think iran is pattern is to has to retaliate differently. Not necessarily in iraq but it might retaliate somewhere else in the persian gulf obviously the hes in yemen Hizbullah Hamas iran has quite a few options these days and has a lot of proxies a lot of allies in the region a lot of agents all over the region could could potentially strike in afghanistan its got agents there so i would be surprised if or run sort of directly retaliates through iraqi. Proxies and allies it would probably might choose something different. And kenneth the group thats being blamed cats and hezbollah which is thoughts of carries out of that rockets attack that killed the contracts there how does that include put her a little already fit into the wider context. Well its a designer iran backed militia so it is named as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States it certainly is equipped funded and trains but parked by the could source customs so that money the iranian head of the could say force is very close to d the to the and its leader. Abdul hadi mohan disks who also serves a dual role as deputy head of the Popular Militia forces the hush to xabi the the shia mostly shia militias in iraq generally so he has a dual role but he is close to cylin money and the iranians have a lot of influence over that militia yes author Kenneth Casson joining us there sir thank you. Craning Government Forces and russian backed separatists have exchanged 200 prisoners group has just returned to the cranium capital kiev where they were welcomed by emotional family members and president vladimir selenski those released just civilians the members of a special police force who were accused of killing protests in kiev in 2014 well the exchange follows talks between ukraine and russia leaders a few weeks ago in paris and hayward has the story. For many this was a Long Time Coming ukrainian prisoners finally free to leave the territory they fought to keep but still controlled by pro russian separatists security was tight as a Prisoner Exchange began in Eastern Ukraine some had arrived at the checkpoint in heavily 45 because the identities checked and checked again but the men disbelieve them relief that it was happening and they will be able to return home there are some fathers though found to fight on this moment ukrainian prisoner said they would fight for their country to president there were more than one well this pro russian separatists thought hed been beaten and tortured by the Ukrainian Security services. Sundays exchange was the result of direct talks between president for lenski and putin in france earlier this month they agreed to implement a full ceasefire in a bid to end the war in the dont pass region of ukraine relations between russia and ukraine soured when protesters in kiev managed to drive out a kremlin backed government in 2014 russia then seized control of crimea from ukraine and within weeks russian backed separatists took control of the eastern part of ukraine. More than 13000 people including civilians have died during 5 years of complex the have been attempts before to try to end the war and the prisoner swaps ukraine wants to join nato once your union wants to move west. Im not sure where ukraine and this. Difference may just. Not meet result why a Prisoner Exchange this one has caused controversy in ukraine protesters gathered outside a Detention Center angry some members of a Ukrainian Police unit accused of killing demonstrators in kiev and 2014 were released there is little well im going civilians caught up in the fighting for this war to continue this Prisoner Exchange then a sign that tensions could be easing and he would aljazeera. Plenty more ahead on this news hour we are in libya to look at severely and sons of fire for warlord police for half the Hours Campaign to capture tripoli. In this hour rips through a military parade in yemen killing at least 7 people. And the queen of the slopes and still her world cup tally in austria so well have all the action. Began many governments is blaming kuti rebels for a missile attack on a military Graduation Parade which killed at least 7 people theres been no claim of responsibility for the strike in the southern time of dollar now the apparent target was Security Belt forces who are trained and equipped by Saudi Coalition its been fine seen against the hutu rebel since 2015 years of leadership it was a paltry the heathy militias have tried to move the party away from the battlefield after they suffered losses on the front lines i mean to the heart of darling by way of a strike and this strike will wreak not. Because the joint Southern Forces will not stop in just securing darling they will also try to secure tell us and other areas when the who say theyve identified 9 targets in saudi arabia and the u. A. E. Which they plan to hit next year lets say alba haiti is a prole whos the journalist based in the summer and he says who make these threats there are significant disagreements within the saudi u. A. E. Coalition. I think because if we see that the goal in the south is different. Support in the legitimacy of the un on the other side we see that the United Arab Emirates created a militia and Security Forces which actually want yemen to be separated over they call it this is session. And thats why i think if they continue this way i dont think that this coalition can continue on as well we have seen today confidence for the 1st book person of yemeni out of voters here in sanaa and he has warned saudi arabia and he said that this year. 2020. Victory. Depends because we know that in many out of means and a has been developed that it depends on if they can limit. The power of saudi night out of the forces i believe that they can conduct to make that attack against saudi arabia a night out of a minute and i just want to mention that 2 days ago yemeni a Ballistic Missile has targeted a military base in niger and i think that was a clear set of the end of the unilateral truce that was announced in sanaa 3 months ago on the spokesperson today have said in sanaa that the yemeni army would respond to any attack against germany that here in area under the control of some or any other Major Development in the south of this bitterly from the united out of a minute. The governor of new york has described an attack on Orthodox Jews as an act of domestic terrorism 5 people were injured when a man armed with a machete stormed into a rabbi saw showing how like a celebrations in upstate new york it is the latest in a number of recent attacks against the Jewish Community in the u. S. As russell and jordan explained. 37 year old Grafton Thomas faces 5 counts of attempted murder after an attack at a Hanukkah Party a month see new york. Attack terror. Work money for the what it was back and forth. Thank you it is ending this crammed after me when they came out here its going to have to be hey you all got you but thats a thats about it so far thomas has not been charged with a hate crime the new york state governor says the suspect should get that and more i think this is an act of terrorism i think domestic terrorists they are trying to inflict fear they are motivated by hate. They are doing mass attacks these are terrorists the muncie attack is the latest in a series of assaults on Jewish Americans this year new York City Police say that as of december 15th 213. 00 anti semitic hate crime complaints have been filed this year thats 36 more than in 20188 of those attacks have happened in the last couple of weeks including a woman and her son attacked while leaving the coffee shop. In nearby jersey city 3 people were murdered in a kosher supermarket and december 10th while police are increasing neighborhood patrols and some israeli politicians say it might be time for Jewish Americans to leave the u. S. Others say it will take much more than Law Enforcement to fight anti semitism we would leave these thought on even more than a veil and you question not a and for all its. A whole khosla memory and the fight against something you think and 50 mathieson is most needed. Right now people are scared and the priority is keeping people safe roslyn jordan aljazeera washington. Well avis jill and sue eva is the c. E. O. Of insights on ltd a Consulting Firm focusing on race gender and inclusion she joins us live from washington d. C. Hi there avis a warm welcome to the program so we know the hate crime violence against minority groups is on the rise even more so when were looking at the statistics for jewish groups whats happening out there we have seen a continuous increase in hate crimes in america specifically for the past 4 years year after year hate crimes have increased and in specially weve seen a spike the year immediately following the president ial election and then just last year we saw spikes in 10 of the largest cities across the nation hitting for them a 10 year high so what were experiencing here is a cultural shift that i believe starts from the top where you have a president who has been spewing hate from the very beginning of his campaign all throughout his presidency and unfortunately its infecting our broader culture as a result so even i guess what were saying is the kind of current believe nature if i can use that phrase of the political discourse this is partly to blame here. Its partly but i think it goes beyond bullying he has really struck a nerve and a tone that has attracted a lot of white supremacist followers to him and he specifically things to speak out and spread on twitter a lot of theories and a lot of quite frankly lies that are related to White Nationalism so we have seen this every year that hes been on the political thing that has led to a huge bump in hate crimes both specifically related to increasing hate crimes against the Jewish Population but also increasing rate hate crimes across boundaries of race in america and so were now at a point where we have a