And lives in australia the military is on standby as lightning starts even more bushfires. Protesting on into 2020 of the defiance is set to continue in hong kong. And the city of lights and lock this is right now the latest city cheering a new day. Iraqi protesters have taken their rage against u. S. Airstrikes on a shia group to americas Embassy Hundreds of people marched into the heavily fortified green zone and surrounded the embassy in the iraqi capital baghdad some of them managed to storm the compound and set a security post on fire they were angry over some. These u. S. Airstrikes in iraq and syria targeting a powerful iranian backed group the hezbollah brigades on iraqi soil the incident at the embassy happened as funerals were being held for the fighters killed in the u. S. Air strikes the u. S. Is deploying additional troops to reinforce the Diplomatic Mission its blamed iran for the unrest on tuesday but tehran denies it had anything to do with it simona fulton begins our coverage with this report from baghdad green zone. The angry and determined they marched across the river tigris through unmanned checkpoints into the heart of the fortified green zone thousands of members of the iranian backed Popular Mobilization forces and their supporters surrounded the compound of the u. S. Embassy to deliver a stern warning notice. This is a message to trump and to the American Embassy and consulate in baghdad. Watch out you have touched our soldiers and our brothers they said fires at the outer gates as they try to get inside the Embassy Grounds the situation appears to be escalating now with hundreds perhaps thousands of members of the Popular Mobilization for setting the reeds to the close of the u. S. Embassy there for throwing stones there burning the trying to climb the wall to reach the u. S. Embassy compound and theyre chanting antiamerican slogans theyre demanding the waves roll off american troops from iraq. The action is in response to u. S. Airstrikes that killed dozens of fighters from the hezbollah brigades which form part of the Popular Mobilization of forces it all began as a funeral procession to honor those killed crowds pay their respects as the bodies passed by and vowed to avenge their deaths and the other on their lives over. This cowardly act was carried out by the u. S. And israel they will pay a high price we will take a strong stand and we will not forget the blood of the martyrs. As long as theres breath inside of us we will tell them that we are here on the streets and we are here to stay and there will be an aggressive response to their pieces are not saying. Top pm of their support of this march including hard money the leader of the biggest bloc in parliament and there is. Bullet an insurgency after the us led invasion in 2003 they pledged to use both military and political means to expel us troops that are part of the dharma this embassy has proved its conspires against iraq this is the embassy where they spy on iraq and where they lead to destruction of iraq this is where the saboteurs are supported the u. S. Embassy is located in the heavily fortified green zone for months Iraqi Security forces have guarded it against antigovernment protesters but this time they appear to have orders to stand down the Prime Minister has condemned the attack on the embassy but the fact that these crowds have been allowed to reach the embassy gates appears to signal the governments implicit endorsement of the message that theyre trying to send iran has strong relations not only with the security groups that we talk about that weve been talking about but also with the political groups with the institutions with state actors inside iraq and across the political spectrum from. And kurdish groups. Through loudspeakers crowds in Tahrir Square whove camped out for months to protest against the government and the iranian influence renounced any connection to the group that entered the green zone this attack on the u. S. Embassy could turn into a diplomatic crisis many fear it could be the beginning of an escalating proxy war between the u. S. And iran on iraqi soil say want a full teen aljazeera baghdad. Lets cross live to Gabriel Elizondo in washington where donald trump has been tweeting about the unrest as of tuesday gable how has the u. S. Response shifted during the course of the day. Yeah and it has shifted as we know the policy and statements that come out of washington in this particular administration can change on a dime very quick as weve seen in some other instances and we saw a lot of shifting in that a little bit of that on tuesday as well initially when these protests started the u. S. Immediately focused on securing the embassy deployed what we think were about 100 rapid reef response marines from the region to the embassy to help buffer security there but the administration was pointing the finger directly at iran saying that iran was responsible for these protests without a doubt but then you saw as the day want to Long Administration officials and even u. S. Congressmen and women also putting the pressure on iraq wondering questions were being why didnt iraq allow this to happen how did Iraqi Security forces allow these protesters to get so close to this u. S. Embassy in this heavily fortified green zone and questions were being asked about that might pompei o actually spoke to both the iraqi president and Prime Minister and President Trump himself also spoke on the phone with the Prime Minister as well in a readout from that indicated that he questioned the Prime Minister or asked the Prime Minister to please secure the u. S. Embassy and do everything in his power but then were seeing on tuesday evening President Trump now tweeting again pointing the finger again directly at irani tweeted and im going to read it iran will be held fully responsible for lives lost or damage incurred at any of our facilities trump tweet went on to say they will pay a very big price this is not a warning this is a threat before in the in the tweet with happy new year so the big question now is trump threatening iran should. They can any attacks continue on us. The sillies that the u. S. Think it says iran is behind it but then the big question is what is us going to do beyond these threats and theres simply no answer to that question yet gabriel thanks very much lets talk now to max abrams hes a professor of Political Science at the Northeastern University in boston he joins us on skype from the max welcome back to the news greats have your insight as usual are we heading towards a situation where the u. S. And iran having a full on confrontation on iraq he soil. I think back to other problems are going to ask ali but i dont think it will be our follow on confrontation but clearly were in a tit for tat environment where today the embassy the u. S. Embassy in baghdad would store and that was in retaliation to u. S. Strikes against whats called his beloved brigade some of the. Popular Mobilization Forces you know. That i was in response to there are attacking in iraq e military installation increased cook which killed an American Contractor here ringback and there were no signs of the us dying to have one of trial has indicated that hes going to escalate even further of the iranian militia groups whatever you want to call have also been quite clear that this is not the end they call out of the operations against the embassy but there are still outside in the green so an intense it their leadership says that theyre going to continue pushing against u. S. Forces are even attacking them in so far as the United States leaves iraq and thats not really for seeable washington certainly there will continue to be some sort of u. S. Diplomatic presence nevermind the 5000. 00 plus u. S. Troops in the country and so i dont see any end to this i think i see things getting worse but i also dont think that trump wants an all out war against iran and iran is smart enough not to want it all out war against the u. S. As well but when we talk about the iranian militia here the militia around the region not just in iraq isnt there a key difference here some analysts have been saying to us there is a difference because the hezbollah brigades or cut tape hezbollah is controlled directly from iran and their argument goes well look this is out there in the Public Domain and everyone involved in this knows it. It is confusing because we refer to. In iraq but more the more well known one is in the levant lebannon increasingly out of syria these are separate groups but of course what they have. Is that theyre both iranian backed sometimes this one based in iraq is called a Paramilitary Group which would suggest that its directly in the arm rather where is hezbollah the party youve got the more well known and loving on who is seen more often as a Resistance Group are or even a terrorist group depending on what your politics are but this is real but theres no doubt about i mean were really just putting here is theres no doubt about it that this is very much a proxy of the iranian government and its in control in order to spread some of its influence in iraq as well as to me the u. S. Presence there more cost is the trumpet ministration actually on the front foot given or despite his back story when it comes to you know people like john bolton moving away from the administration and the trumpets to towards the 2015 Iranian Nuclear deal because iran when it comes to those proxies around the region but specifically now with iraq it cant try to hide behind its critics might say this idea of plausible deniability. Well i think that d. C. Is very clear on any attacks by the Popular Mobilisation courses are seen as attacks by iran itself and so there is no of plus a whole lot to do with the when attacks can be linked up to these militia groups theyre basically seemed as coming directly from tehran however that doesnt mean necessarily that there needs to be direct confrontation coverage asian between the u. S. And iran for example another high the president somebodys life Bernie Sanders or a whispered who are they might be more inclined to say you know what this is in irans neighborhood the iraq project has been a failure since 2003 and sure iraq is projecting power but that doesnt mean that the u. S. Needs to stay there in large numbers and to escalate against you and so these are we are going politicians have a lot of each and see in terms of determining us Foreign Policy even if we all accept that the violence is coming one way or another from tehran. Sabans there in boston thank you very much my pleasure. Plenty more still to come for you here on the news hour including 2019 saw anger in france over efforts to reform the Pension System and a new tax on fuel well tell you what the president s been saying in his new years address. Allegations of forced abortions well speak to ethnic kazakhs who say they were detained alongside a week of muslims in china and in the sports news the disappearance of a footballers father colombias world cup midfielder demands answers from the head of the countrys army. Lightning strikes have started new bushfires in the australian states of a tory up as the crisis there and neighboring New South Wales threatens to get even worse hundreds of people remain trapped on a beach for a 2nd day as they seek shelter from growing bushfires in southeast australia the navy is preparing to evacuate people by sea and air from the waterfront in the town up in victoria in the state of New South Wales towns a cloaked in an orange and red haze at least 12 people have been killed more now from laura but in many. As a Massive Wildfire towards the town of. 4000. 00 people flats towards the beach those with boats went one step further as now the 5 fronts come through. Every one side the sound got together to the dogs up the frog that supplies but i never see them i get. The fire burning across 730 square kilometers i think day began and could resume it turned day to night this video was recorded. Were just getting some invisible and i have a name so they reckon that they say. That its the wards of north east at the moment and it started in the town of no it didnt get me a military leader is currently under. Back at the moment theres a number of houses we believe was lost in and around that community weve got 3 structure im sitting in with a community literally standing side by side with our community at the beachfront victorias premier looked towards the Australian Defense force for help wildfire bosses try to calm residents not just america but across the states in the number of communities. And again this was a scenario that we forecast a number of guys ago so our focus today is very much about how we can gain how we can support those impacted communities in the neighboring states of New South Wales scenes repeated the community have come to the local surf club with the ocean as their access and this was a bait during the new years holiday coastal towns a popular vacation spots authorities of tens of thousands of holidaymakers to go home or cancel their plans because the pavement for evacuation center. Work is really bad its hard. Apocalyptic this is the middle of a very. Major cities of not escape the choking smoke and flames a monday 100000 people were urged to evacuate from 5 melbourne suburbs while this was filmed in western sydney just so far with. Australias wildfire season is breaking records. The 1st major fires started in Early September before the arrival of spring the product of soaring temperatures dry ground and strong winds theyve now destroyed more than 40000 square kilometers of land at any given time dozens if not hundreds of fires are burning and the full heat of summer has yet to arrive in manly aljazeera. The north Korean Leader kim jong un has promised to develop his countrys Nuclear Weapons program he also said hed soon launch a new strategic. Weapon denuclearization talks between pyongyang and washington stalled in october south korean media is reporting that in his annual new years address mr kim said the u. S. Would quote suffer helplessly if he continued to delay talks he accused the white house of making gangster like demands rodman bright joins us live from so push your reading of these comments from the north Korean Leader. Thats right peter is i think as people here have expected or indeed have fear that north korea seems to be turning away from the path of dialogue with the u. S. That this avenue it seems is leading nowhere as far as the North Koreans are concerned and so has returned to talking about developing its Nuclear Deterrent as you mentioned then talking about developing a new modern modern weapons system but interestingly saying that the depth and the scope of the power of this system its Nuclear Deterrent will depend very much upon the United States and its attitude so it does seem as though north korea is holding open the door slightly on the possibility of the United States coming back with some concession but it would have to be in the near future this does seem to be like a final warning from north korea but interestingly we havent had a launch of a longer range missile that everyone had been expecting of course all through december people were talking about this Christmas Present a christmas surprise for the United States from north korea seeming to indicate that it was prepared maybe to return to launching i. C. B. M. s Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles well we havent had one of those so it does seem as though while north korea is quite happy to use the threat of that it seems to accept that it might go it might be counterproductive to actually have all of those launches so comparatively when you compare the language of this statement and this is a statement that is on the workings of this Plenary Session of the Workers Party of career that has just been held up in pyongyang we dont know yet whether kim jong un actually will make his new year address and if he does that it will probably be messages along this. This lines but this does seem to contrast with the kind of language with which we could have expected 2 years ago when they talked about conflict and we are virtually at a stage of war and that could be a devastating strike at any moment it does seem at least to avoid that kind that kind of aggressive language peter rob thanks very much. New years celebrations in hong kong worse scaled back thousands of protesters gathered across the Financial Hub including along the waterfront the famous traditional fireworks display was significantly reduced used to security concerns and t. China demonstrations are now into their 6th month florence who is in hong kong she says new years celebrations havent distracted the protesters away from the new year festivities away from the neon the shopping streets of hong kong protesters have g