Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org, I'm Ian Masters,

and today we'll look into a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the bombing of Damascus by Israel as the Druze in the South are being slaughtered by the Syrian army in a country led by a former jihadi who wants total control of Syria

and not a federalist system that the endangered minorities want. We will discuss the differing interests of the

Americans and the Israelis who don't believe the leopard has changed his spots in terms of serious

new leader and Trump, who likes the guy and admires his toughness. Joining us is Joshua Landis,

the Sandra Mackey Chair and Director of the Center for Middle East Studies

and the Farisnai Family Center for Iranian and Persian Gulf Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

The past president of the Syrian Studies Association, he is a fellow at the Quincy Institute and writes Syria Comment,

a daily newsletter and blog on

Syrian politics. Then with the Guardian reporting on an Irish tourist who overstayed his visa by

three days spending a month in horrific ICE detention, we'll examine what happens to those

scooped up by ICE and sent into detention, which is funded by the US taxpayer,

enriching giant private contractors, core civic and geo-group

who can expect even greater rewards with the $45 billion more in the pipeline

to hold people, justified or not,

as they make more money out of inmates' misery every day they

are held. Joining us is Bill Hing, Associate Dean Four Faculty Scholarship, Professor and the founding

director of the Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic and Dean's Circle scholar at the

University of San Francisco. He is the author of a number of books, including

humanizing immigration, How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System, defining America through

immigration policy, and American presidents, deportations, and human rights violations. Then finally,

...