Syria unrest: Are the Arab League observers doing their job?

After failing to put down anti-government protests with brute force, the regime of Bashar al-Assad has decided to bow to foreign pressure and allow a team of observers into the country. Their goal: find out whether Damascus is respecting its promise to end violence and pull its army out of residential areas. Cyril Vanier and his panel discuss whether the observers have what it takes to carry out this mission.

DEBATE

Haitham MALEH, Syrian activist;
Ole SOLVANG, Emergencies researcher, Human Rights Watch;
Melissa BELL, France 24 International Affairs Editor;
Julien PAIN, France 24 Observers;
Walid PHARES, Professor, National Defense University.
Watch the second part

Presenter

François Picard

17/06/2013 - THE DEBATE

Iran's new President: Change you can believe in?

The election of Hassan Rohani catches most – but not all – of François Picard’s panel by surprise. Now with sanctions biting and the economy in a tailspin, will the ruling clerics dig in their heels or let the president-elect really reform?

13/06/2013 - THE DEBATE

Iran: What hope for the reformists? (part 2)

On the face of it, a boycott seems the most sensible option for those who supported the green revolution back in 2009 when Mahmoud Ahmedinedjad won his controversial second term. Yet there are suggestions that something unexpected may be happening in Iran. Melissa Bell and her panel discuss whether there is hope for the reformists on the eve of the presidential elections.

13/06/2013 - THE DEBATE

Iran: What hope for the reformists?

12/06/2013 - THE DEBATE

Lebanon on edge: Hezbollah and the Syrian spillover (part 2)

One hour’s drive is all it takes to reach the border with Syria from the seaside in the capital Beirut. But, if the capital seems oblivious to it all, hundreds have been killed and scores more wounded in Lebanon’s second city of Tripoli, where the sectarian divide has long been bitter. François Picard and his panel discuss, from Beirut, whether the spillover from Syria's civil war could push neighbouring Lebanon over the edge.