:00:00. > :00:08.I'm Lyse Doucet at the United Nations in New York.
:00:09. > :00:13.The US Secretary of State calls for all planes to be grounded
:00:14. > :00:21.in key areas of Syria to try to save the truce there.
:00:22. > :00:23.There's been dozens more air raids around the city of Aleppo
:00:24. > :00:25.and amid continued recriminations against Russia
:00:26. > :00:32.over the destruction of an aid convoy on Monday.
:00:33. > :00:34.He said the damage to the convoy was as a direct result
:00:35. > :00:43.Trucks of food and medicine, just spontaneously combusting.
:00:44. > :00:55.We report on how Kurdish Peshmerga forces are getting close
:00:56. > :00:58.to pushing so-called Islamic State out of Iraq once and for all.
:00:59. > :01:00.And I'll also be talking to the Iraqi Prime Minister
:01:01. > :01:03.about the Iraqi armies battle to retake Mosul from IS.
:01:04. > :01:06.I hope we can do it, and we are intending on doing it.
:01:07. > :01:25.I'm not giving any information - I want to surprise Daesh on this.
:01:26. > :01:40.The outside the headquarters of the United Nations. Again, Syria is
:01:41. > :01:44.dominating the headlines with them not just that, retention and
:01:45. > :01:47.recrimination after Monday's attack on the UN, Terry and convoy heading
:01:48. > :01:59.towards the besieged city of Aleppo. Today, more reports of an attack on
:02:00. > :02:08.a clinic that has left 20 civilians dead.
:02:09. > :02:16.John Kerry said that the peace in Syria was hanging by a thread, and
:02:17. > :02:20.they were tense moments with Sergey Lavrov over who is responsible for
:02:21. > :02:28.the attacks on the aid convoy in how to move Syria forward.
:02:29. > :02:35.Monday night's attack on the aid convoy was a shocking part of the
:02:36. > :02:37.violent end to the Syrian ceasefire. American led accusations that a
:02:38. > :02:41.Russian air strike was responsible for this, and Russian denials of any
:02:42. > :02:49.involvement now threaten to derail the entire search for a Syria peace.
:02:50. > :02:55.At the United Nations, the Security Council met to see if any sort of
:02:56. > :02:59.peace process can be saved. Passions were running extraordinarily high,
:03:00. > :03:03.but Russia's Foreign Minister said nobody should drum to conclusions.
:03:04. > :03:11.-- jump to conclusions. TRANSLATION: Many said it could have
:03:12. > :03:15.been a rocket or artillery shelling, that was what the initial reports
:03:16. > :03:19.were, then helicopters or warplanes were mentioned. I think we need to
:03:20. > :03:25.refrain from emotional reactions and make comments immediately, but first
:03:26. > :03:31.we must investigate and be professional. That appeal to avoid
:03:32. > :03:36.feelings and Russian denials were simply too much for the Americans. I
:03:37. > :03:41.listened to my colleague from Russia, and I sort of felt a little
:03:42. > :03:48.bit like we were in a parallel universe here. Then a John Kerry let
:03:49. > :03:52.rip in a sustained assault on their credibility, dismissing their
:03:53. > :03:55.accounts, including one that it might have been a simple fire on the
:03:56. > :04:03.ground. They just spontaneously combusted. Anybody here believe
:04:04. > :04:06.that? I mean, this is not a joke. So what do we know about the attack on
:04:07. > :04:14.the aid convoy? It took place on Monday night. The convoy was
:04:15. > :04:17.intending to head on to rebel held areas in Aleppo province. Russia has
:04:18. > :04:23.admitted tracking the convoy with a drone. They showed their footage
:04:24. > :04:27.shows it was accompanied by a rebel convoy. Those at the scene insisted
:04:28. > :04:33.was struck from the air. TRANSLATION: They dropped barrel
:04:34. > :04:39.bombs and then Russian jets bombed us, there was lots of strafing. The
:04:40. > :04:43.United states so they were jets above the convoy at the moment it
:04:44. > :04:47.was hit. Russia denies involvement. It says there are no craters at the
:04:48. > :04:53.scene, and suggests that somehow the cargo caught fire. The Foreign
:04:54. > :04:57.Secretary, Boris Johnson, does not buy that. He is convinced the attack
:04:58. > :05:02.was from the air, and that only the Russians had the capability. There
:05:03. > :05:06.are only two possible culprits, only two forces capable of powering
:05:07. > :05:12.carried out that strike, flying in that area. They are the Syrians and
:05:13. > :05:16.the Russians. We have our doubts about the Syrian capability to fly
:05:17. > :05:22.at night. So you're left with a pretty strong conclusion, as you
:05:23. > :05:24.will have been hearing. The destruction of the convoy and
:05:25. > :05:28.killing of aid workers has sparked the worst crisis so far in
:05:29. > :05:34.international efforts to end Syria's agony.
:05:35. > :05:47.At the moment here at the United Nations, where the international
:05:48. > :05:49.committee had been looking to end the violence, their argument about
:05:50. > :05:54.who reignited it. You must be disappointed. Is there
:05:55. > :05:59.any hope of moving beyond this now? We cannot give up. There is no
:06:00. > :06:04.alternative. What is the alternative? Going back to a war
:06:05. > :06:14.which will be ongoing without limit. We almost had a ceasefire. We almost
:06:15. > :06:20.had he Medmerry and eight. Foremost is not good enough in Syria. --
:06:21. > :06:26.almost had humanitarian aid. There are some who do not want it. Today
:06:27. > :06:30.was a tense meeting. But I have a strong feeling that both Russia and
:06:31. > :06:34.America, who have been putting a lot of capital into it, will not give up
:06:35. > :06:37.before Friday. Then we perhaps might get something moving. You know who
:06:38. > :06:48.carried out the attack on the convoy? The United States say it was
:06:49. > :06:53.Russian planes. It was a UN convoy. It was. It was full of food, and
:06:54. > :06:57.fully authorised. Everyone knew where they were going. There was no
:06:58. > :07:02.east is forcing them, there were 31 tracks. I cannot tell you at this
:07:03. > :07:05.stage who did it, but I can tell you one thing, you need a highly
:07:06. > :07:17.sophisticated machine to kill 18 trunks out of 31, and there was no
:07:18. > :07:22.excuse. You have a -- you have relied on Russia and America to move
:07:23. > :07:27.on. If there is hostility between them, how can you move on? In
:07:28. > :07:32.fairness to both of them, they both work hard. I work with both of them,
:07:33. > :07:38.and they worked overnight. They got quite a good deal. I want to believe
:07:39. > :07:44.that over what -- those who are trying to spoil this... Who are
:07:45. > :07:50.those? You have two identify them to stop them. We have identified them.
:07:51. > :07:54.Are they the main parties? They are not. They are people on both sides,
:07:55. > :08:00.and the Government and opposition who do not feel that this is
:08:01. > :08:07.actually fitting into their picture. They have been spoiling both the
:08:08. > :08:10.American and Russian tactics. Russia and America have responsibilities,
:08:11. > :08:14.they have two brain in and convince their own partners that this is
:08:15. > :08:20.serious. The alternative is chaos, it is war. I am still optimistic.
:08:21. > :08:23.You will have heard of John Kerry calling for the grading of all
:08:24. > :08:26.planes. They have been trying to achieve that for so long. Any sense
:08:27. > :08:30.that that is possible? It is possible and doable. It was part of
:08:31. > :08:39.the original plan. Which did not work. It did not reach that point.
:08:40. > :08:47.It undermined the second chained of three points. A reduction of our
:08:48. > :08:59.studies is phase one. He manner Terry and aid is phase two. Phase
:09:00. > :09:13.three is around grabbing the Syrian air force. -- humanitarian aid is
:09:14. > :09:18.phase one. Isn't this the brunt of the problem, that those on the
:09:19. > :09:21.ground believe in the military solution? Yes, but they should know
:09:22. > :09:29.by now that there is no military solution. One week, one believes
:09:30. > :09:35.they can bring. The second week, the other one. This is still the best
:09:36. > :09:40.chance. We must wish good luck and energy and responsibility to the
:09:41. > :09:45.Russians and the Americans. They told us publicly that they had a
:09:46. > :09:50.deal. They must make it work. We understand that the suspension of
:09:51. > :09:57.aid deliveries has been lifted. Are they now rolling? They are.
:09:58. > :10:03.Humanitarian aid must always prevail. You are not losing hope?
:10:04. > :10:09.Losing hope would be betraying all of the Syrians that had been waiting
:10:10. > :10:12.for some good things. You have seen the mood inside the Security
:10:13. > :10:17.Council, it is hard to see how it can be picked up, despite the
:10:18. > :10:20.necessity of it. I have seen the difficult meetings. It was not the
:10:21. > :10:25.most difficult one. I could detect that both the Russians and American,
:10:26. > :10:32.while they were being quite tense towards each other, they were still
:10:33. > :10:36.saying that when they looked at each other, they had a chance. They need
:10:37. > :10:41.both of them to make it work. Thank you.
:10:42. > :10:46.Still chance, he says, to try to save this embattled truce across
:10:47. > :10:51.Syria. has been causing growing
:10:52. > :10:56.despair here at the UN, in Iraq, the army is pushing up
:10:57. > :10:58.from the south towards Mosul, the Islamic State group's last major
:10:59. > :11:00.stonghold in the country. At the same time,
:11:01. > :11:02.Kurdish Peshmerga forces are closing in on IS
:11:03. > :11:04.from the East. Our correspondent, Orla Guerin,
:11:05. > :11:06.joined them on the frontline, On the front line, a tense moment
:11:07. > :11:12.for Kurdish Peshmerga fighters. They spot a car in the
:11:13. > :11:24.territory controlled They think could be
:11:25. > :11:30.carrying explosives. The commander tells me
:11:31. > :11:43.that IS just a comment ahead. They've tried to attack us 30 or 40
:11:44. > :12:01.times, says the general. They've tried to attack us 30 or 40
:12:02. > :12:05.times, says the general. And we will defeat them
:12:06. > :12:09.in Mosul, God willing. We drive over rough terrain,
:12:10. > :12:11.along the front line, which stretches
:12:12. > :12:12.for 1,000 kilometres. a fighter who has been
:12:13. > :12:16.here on the mountain for 18 months. But his uniform
:12:17. > :12:18.separates him from the rest. He's a former British soldier,
:12:19. > :12:22.turned volunteer sniper. He says he has no hesitation
:12:23. > :12:27.pulling the trigger on IS. It's like putting
:12:28. > :12:35.your foot on an ant. For you, personally,
:12:36. > :12:38.what was it that This isn't your country,
:12:39. > :12:42.many would say. For people to say this
:12:43. > :12:49.isn't the West's war, you've got your head
:12:50. > :12:52.stuck in the sand. here, then the next step
:12:53. > :13:00.for them would be Europe. Nice, Paris would be nothing
:13:01. > :13:04.compared to what we would see. The fact of the matter
:13:05. > :13:07.is that the Peshmerga held the line, This mortar landed
:13:08. > :13:19.soon after we arrived. IS were responding to our
:13:20. > :13:24.presence, the Kurds said. Their horizon stretches
:13:25. > :13:28.beyond defeating the insurgents. The Peshmerga have been
:13:29. > :13:29.expanding their territory, They want independence
:13:30. > :13:36.for their autonomous region. But, for now, the focus
:13:37. > :13:41.is on freeing Mosul. This IS defector surrendered
:13:42. > :13:45.to the Kurds, and claims that the extremists have
:13:46. > :13:49.dug in for a long fight. We're not revealing his identity
:13:50. > :13:51.as he has relatives They are trying to convert a cannon
:13:52. > :14:03.to fire mustard gas so that, when the army comes,
:14:04. > :14:09.people use it against them. They have underground
:14:10. > :14:12.tunnels around Mosul, They have bunkers equipped
:14:13. > :14:14.with bathrooms, Back of the front line,
:14:15. > :14:24.a distant glimpse of Mosul, the captive city, where
:14:25. > :14:28.IS proclaimed its caliphate. The UN is warning
:14:29. > :14:30.that if the militants they may want Mosul
:14:31. > :14:56.to die with them. A difficult and dangerous battle for
:14:57. > :15:03.ice lies ahead. -- for Mosul lies ahead.
:15:04. > :15:09.The decision is a political one to be taken by Iraq's Prime Minister. I
:15:10. > :15:14.sat down with him here in New York to ask whether he believed the
:15:15. > :15:16.battle will be next month. Well, yes, I hope we can do it,
:15:17. > :15:19.and we are intending on doing it. I'm not going to give
:15:20. > :15:24.any information, I want to surprise
:15:25. > :15:25.Daesh on this. Usually, we give many messages,
:15:26. > :15:28.and one of the messages is that we start our offensive today
:15:29. > :15:33.to liberate all of the villages on the River Tigris so that Daesh
:15:34. > :15:36.will not be able to threaten any supply routes
:15:37. > :15:43.to and from Baghdad, to Mosul, I want to make sure
:15:44. > :15:50.that the international coalition is ready to provide help
:15:51. > :15:54.for us when we need it. it is going to be ready
:15:55. > :16:04.in the next couple of days. But most of the things
:16:05. > :16:06.are settled at the moment. And we hope that it will be ready
:16:07. > :16:10.sometime in the next few weeks. What do you fear about the attack
:16:11. > :16:12.on so-called Islamic State, where it is most entrenched
:16:13. > :16:19.amongst civilians? We've been told before that Falluja
:16:20. > :16:21.was more difficult than Mosul. Some advised us at the time to leave
:16:22. > :16:25.Falluja until the end. it took us only three weeks
:16:26. > :16:30.to liberate the city. It was quite a huge
:16:31. > :16:32.casualty for Daesh. President Obama said the battle
:16:33. > :16:39.for Mosul will be hard, challenging, Well, I mean, this is
:16:40. > :16:48.a psychological war. So you're pretending
:16:49. > :16:50.it's going to be easy where, in fact,
:16:51. > :16:52.in your heart hearts, you know this could be the biggest
:16:53. > :16:56.battle, the bloodiest battle but, in preparation, I have
:16:57. > :17:05.to assume it is very difficult. So I'm preparing things
:17:06. > :17:09.for a very difficult fight in Mosul. But, in actual fact,
:17:10. > :17:11.from the messages we are getting from inside the city, from people
:17:12. > :17:15.who are cooperating with us, people are ready to
:17:16. > :17:19.do things in there. So I think people are ready,
:17:20. > :17:21.Daesh morale is very low. There are many foreign
:17:22. > :17:23.fighters in Mosul. It's not just a military battle
:17:24. > :17:30.for your forces, it is a very political,
:17:31. > :17:31.sectarian battle. As you know, the arguments
:17:32. > :17:33.are very public about whether the Shia militia will go in,
:17:34. > :17:36.where will the Kurdish forces go? Are you worried
:17:37. > :17:41.that you will not be able to get everyone moving
:17:42. > :17:44.in the same direction? The plan which I have authorised
:17:45. > :17:53.in probably the last two weeks is... I mean, it's very much explained
:17:54. > :17:58.the role of everyone. There will be Sunnis,
:17:59. > :18:01.there will be Kurds, there will be Shia, there will be
:18:02. > :18:03.the other minor Christians, I cannot stop them or prevent
:18:04. > :18:09.them from taking part in liberating their own
:18:10. > :18:11.homes, their own cities. My role is to enable them to do that
:18:12. > :18:18.in a very established way so that their efforts are added up
:18:19. > :18:24.rather than negating each other. At the moment, it looks like it's
:18:25. > :18:29.going in the right direction. The Kurds have said they are worried
:18:30. > :18:34.they're not going be given the role Probably some people think
:18:35. > :18:40.they are not getting a role, Because if one party believe
:18:41. > :18:46.they have taken all of the roles, It's said that President Obama
:18:47. > :18:51.would like to leave the White House with so-called Islamic State
:18:52. > :18:53.no longer holding territory I don't know whether
:18:54. > :19:02.the rest of the world I'm very alarmed by
:19:03. > :19:05.the situation in Syria. The eastern side of Syria
:19:06. > :19:08.is still in the hands of Daesh, We are moving towards holding
:19:09. > :19:16.the border with Syria. But what is next there,
:19:17. > :19:18.on the other side of the border? We're talking to everybody,
:19:19. > :19:26.please solve Syria. It's important to solve
:19:27. > :19:36.the situation in Syria. Iraq's prime and stuff. During his
:19:37. > :19:39.time here in New York, he had two macro meetings with the American
:19:40. > :19:45.president, including a meeting where it was just the two leaders. They
:19:46. > :19:52.were discussing this crucial battle on the city of Mosul. We do know
:19:53. > :19:55.that the White House would like to end this administration by being
:19:56. > :19:58.able to say that the territorial control of Iraq and Syria by the
:19:59. > :20:02.so-called Islamic state has come to an end. So he was looking for
:20:03. > :20:09.financial support here, military support, humanitarian support. One
:20:10. > :20:21.of the things that was not in that interview was that he also asked for
:20:22. > :20:30.President Obama's help in removing Turkish forces. There are many, many
:20:31. > :20:35.issues which are pawns in the side. Let's return to Syria, which has
:20:36. > :20:42.been dominating headlines this week. The two attacks, one on the
:20:43. > :20:50.humanitarian and void the last -- convoy, and the one on the clinic.
:20:51. > :20:56.John Kerry has asked for all of the planes to be grounded in Syria. Is
:20:57. > :21:02.that possible? Our State Department correspondent has been speaking to a
:21:03. > :21:06.member of the artist says government to find out if that would be
:21:07. > :21:12.possible. The whole agreement is hanging by a
:21:13. > :21:18.thread, and is doing so because of this big Regis attack on a convoy
:21:19. > :21:20.that had been planned. There were coming to the aid of innocent
:21:21. > :21:25.civilians. The question before us now is whether Russia has the intent
:21:26. > :21:29.and the capacity to make good on its commitments under the agreement we
:21:30. > :21:34.reached after a lot of hard work. If it does, and if it can, this would
:21:35. > :21:38.be a permit is benefit by renewing a cessation of hostilities, by getting
:21:39. > :21:42.the Syrian air force out of the skies to stop into skimmer at the
:21:43. > :21:47.bombing innocent civilians. Ultimately, it is up to Russia to
:21:48. > :21:51.decide. The deal is this, if this doesn't work, if Russia does not
:21:52. > :21:55.make good on these commitments, then hard as it is to imagine, this will
:21:56. > :22:04.get worse. Rush you will be left holding the bag, propping I that
:22:05. > :22:10.will be under attack, and Russia will be alienating itself. It is up
:22:11. > :22:13.to Russia. All of this is depending on Russia, and the Americans are
:22:14. > :22:18.working closely on Russia. At the same time, you are saying that they
:22:19. > :22:24.are accountable for this strike on the humanitarian convoy. How can you
:22:25. > :22:31.keep that up question of if you believe that, the US will be
:22:32. > :22:34.complicit with those actions. The best way, the best chance we have of
:22:35. > :22:39.stopping the carnage in Syria is through this agreement. The
:22:40. > :22:49.challenge is this. These things and, Sybil was like Syria and in three
:22:50. > :22:53.ways. One side wins. Once one side starts to get power, the patrons of
:22:54. > :23:04.the other side start to in more resources. Or outside powers come in
:23:05. > :23:07.and try to end the violence. Russia has more at stake because if this
:23:08. > :23:14.does not succeed, as I said, they will be left responsible for Syria.
:23:15. > :23:18.Briefly, the military co-operation of it, that must be off the table?
:23:19. > :23:25.Russia has said from the start that it is in Syria to go after Isis as
:23:26. > :23:28.well as prop up the Assad regime. We know that, but the point of the
:23:29. > :23:33.ceasefire was that the Russians and the US would co-operate monetarily.
:23:34. > :23:37.Since you are accusing them of being committed in this air strike, that
:23:38. > :23:42.must be off the table? What we have said is that if this agreement holds
:23:43. > :23:49.for seven days, we get seven days of a cessation of hostilities, we can
:23:50. > :23:55.look at establishing a mechanism to coordinate in doing what we want to
:23:56. > :24:00.do, which is in the interests of the International committee, to go after
:24:01. > :24:04.Daesh. That depends on whether Russia is ready to make good on its
:24:05. > :24:08.commitments. It's as that you do not have much leverage. I think the
:24:09. > :24:12.leverage is, what is the alternative? An acceleration of a
:24:13. > :24:18.civil war that will harm Russia's interests were that anyone else's. I
:24:19. > :24:22.want to ask you about Russia. Sorry, refugees. There has been a lot of
:24:23. > :24:26.talk about refugees, a lot of money raised to help them, but no
:24:27. > :24:30.commitment for countries to resettle them. How do you get around that at
:24:31. > :24:34.the moment, in terms of doing something practical for refugees,
:24:35. > :24:41.other than just giving them a question much we have put more
:24:42. > :24:44.resources into the international systems to help refugees. We have
:24:45. > :24:50.significantly increased the number of people resettled all around the
:24:51. > :24:53.world, including by the United States was up they have to be in
:24:54. > :24:57.fermented, but we make commitments and we have to make sure that we
:24:58. > :25:02.stick to them. We have commitments to make sure that 1 million for
:25:03. > :25:08.refugee children have access to school, and a million more have
:25:09. > :25:12.access to jobs. Ultimately, it comes to Syria and that crisis, the best
:25:13. > :25:16.way to end the crisis is to end the civil war. That is what we're
:25:17. > :25:18.working hard to do. The depth the Secretary of State,
:25:19. > :25:31.speaking to my colleague. ! The alternative to a negotiated end
:25:32. > :25:35.to this war is just more war. It is hanging by a thread, John Kerry
:25:36. > :25:42.said. We had from the special envoy to Syria, saying that both John
:25:43. > :25:47.Kerry and Sergey Lavrov will go back to the negotiating table to get
:25:48. > :25:50.something back on track. If not, look at Aleppo. It has become a
:25:51. > :25:53.symbol of the suffering of Syria. Everyone knows the suffering, the
:25:54. > :25:57.question is what to do to end it? But from me and the rest
:25:58. > :26:02.of the team, goodbye. Plenty of contrast
:26:03. > :26:05.across the country We got over the front crossing
:26:06. > :26:09.the country - it's bringing
:26:10. > :26:11.some outbreaks of rain. It's a pretty wet and to the day,
:26:12. > :26:13.actually, across parts of Northern
:26:14. > :26:14.Ireland and Scotland. It continues to track its way
:26:15. > :26:17.slowly eastwards,