Today's program includes an update on the situation in Catalonia, where, with leading pro-independence politicians either in jail or fled to Belgium, the regional parliament has yet to elect a new President after the December 21st elections. The war in Syria has seen a recent violent upsurge with increased engagement from Israel, whose F-16 was shot down after a raid in Syria, and from Turkey, whose military incursion seeks to destroy the US-backed YPG Syrian Kurdish militia. The US, for its part, has reportedly killed at least 100 Syrian troops, among them, Russians, who were advancing on ISIS or Daesh militia in an oil and gas rich-territory in southern Syrian. And government airstrikes on jihadist-rebel held East Ghouta have left hundreds dead. Reports indicate the continuing presence of jihadist fighters in Syria now being used by Turkey in its military campaign against the Syrian Kurds.
