Syria: Warnings ISIS may resurge
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 20 December 2024
⏱️ 46 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
What is happening now in Syria “is paving the way” for the Islamic State group to re-emerge. That’s according to a leading Kurdish commander who played a key role in defeating the group in Syria in 2019. General Mazloum Abdi told the BBC that IS activity has “increased significantly” and the danger of a resurgence has doubled. Our senior international correspondent Orla Guerin was given rare access to the largest IS jail - in the city of Al Hasakah.
Also in the programme: A BBC investigation has found that the embattled military rulers of Myanmar control less than a quarter of the country; Malaysia has authorised a new attempt to find the wreckage of MH-370 - the flight that disappeared ten years ago; and the group of singers, with an average age of 92, which has broken the Guinness World Record for the world's oldest choir.
(Photo: The BBC was granted rare access to the largest prison for IS detainees - Al Sina - which holds some 5,000 men. Credit: BBC/Matthew Goddard)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsAar from the BBC World Service. |
| 0:06.5 | We're coming to you live from London. |
| 0:08.2 | I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:09.6 | And we're going to begin today in Syria. |
| 0:11.7 | And this question, how should Western countries deal with HTS, the country's new Islamist leadership, |
| 0:18.4 | a group that they designate as a terrorist organisation and that's still under |
| 0:22.8 | sanctions because of its jihadist roots. Its leader Ahmed al-Shara told the BBC this week that he |
| 0:29.2 | wanted to see all sanctions on Syria lifted as soon as possible in order to begin the monumental |
| 0:34.4 | task of rebuilding the country after more than 50 years of Assad family rule. |
| 0:40.0 | A call that was echoed today by Turkey's president, Recep Tayy Berdogan, |
| 0:44.6 | who supported the rebels in their fight to topple Bashar al-Assad. |
| 0:48.8 | Well, today, American diplomats are in Damascus for the first time in more than a decade |
| 0:53.5 | for talks with HTS. |
| 0:56.5 | Let's talk to the BBC's Lena Sinjab, who's in the Syrian capital. |
| 1:00.6 | And, Lena, what are the Americans hoping to achieve, do you think? |
| 1:05.2 | Well, I think it is two-sided, you know, demands. |
| 1:10.3 | The Americans want to make sure that the new leadership |
| 1:13.7 | with de facto that Ahmed al-Sharra does not be excluding other factions of the Syrian society. |
| 1:22.8 | They want to see that this is an inclusive government, protecting minority, protects women's rights. |
| 1:28.3 | They don't want to see an Islamist government ruling the country. |
| 1:32.2 | And that's also something echoed by many other diplomats here in Damascus from the West. |
| 1:38.9 | But at the same time, Ahmed al-Shara and his government want the U.S. and EU sanctions that have |
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