>> and now "bbc world news america." >> this is bbc world news america reporting from washington. we are inside the only town in syria under the control of opposition forces with an excuse -- an exclusive report on the people fighting assad. >> god willing, we will win. >> france suspends its operations in afghanistan and threatens an early withdrawal after an afghan soldier killed four french troops. ♪ >> and, the fight to preserve a monument of music history. the effort is underway to make sure that john coltrane and's

house is still there for future generations. welcome to our viewers in pbs -- on pbs in america and around the globe. we have an exclusive report tonight from the only town in syria under the full control of opposition forces. it is just outside the capital of damascus and has been the scene of intense fighting in recent days, but government forces have now pulled out, leaving the free syrian army in charge. meanwhile, today protests continued across syria with activists saying eight people were killed by security forces. we have this report. >> there is a cease-fire. after 10 months of trauma for the local people. the army has a few outposts, but they are not shooting now.

the regime was forced into a truce because there men could not displace the rebels. since wednesday, most of this has been in the hands of the rebels. i saw pockets of damage from the fighting with a local activist who said he would be in more danger if his face were shown. what about the future? what are you going to do next week and the week after that? >> we will still go to the protests every day. after the regime falls down, we will defend ourselves from the assad regime. >> the city is dominated by the independence flag. protesters want to revive the old symbols, just like libyans did. the fact that people are effectively in control means

that they are able to walk in the main square unmolested by the president's security forces, a strain -- a sign that his regime is feeling the strain. this may not last for long. the assad forces are still camped on the outskirts of town. >> these are the local heroes, fighters from the free syrian army. they're celebrating a victory, but some here worry that the president's men have only pulled back because of pressure from the arab league. the fighters say they will be ready. >> how can you win this? >> god willing, we will win. and he says we are ready to die for the women and children, and to defend our own.

the chant was "god's salute the free army." it is the first acknowledgement that the rebel fighters are changing the balance of power in syria. the fireworks were to tell people it is time to leave. this is not the only town in damascus seating with rebellion, but it is the only one where the president has ceded power. >> it does not matter if i die tomorrow. it is enough that i have been free for now. forces areme's overstretched enough to take a step back here, but they are still powerful. this could be a pause, not a new

beginning for this town. >> a small taste of freedom there in syria. well, the arab league is meeting this weekend to discuss the future of its observer mission in syria. earlier, i spoke with mark ginsburg, the former u.s. ambassador about what to expect next. you have just returned from the region. what is the feeling about what is going to happen now in syria? >> there is great concern that the arab league mission, while it is an important demonstration of unity among the arab members who send troops there, the fact of the matter is that the syrian people themselves have been let down by this mission. the mission has been hoodwinked. it has been led around by the syrian government. they have no teeth to prevent the shooting that has been taking place. to continue this mission without there being a real opportunity to in effect force a cease-fire really almost gives

the regime more of a lifeline to shoot. it is the one worm that that -- one word that that regime only knows, to shoot. >> what you are suggesting is that failure has happened. what can happen? where is success going to come from? >> in the absence of having a united nations security council -- because the russians are determined not to take any action against the regime -- all eyes turn to turkey. turkey determines the future of the economic well-being of damascus to a large extent. but turkey has been talking a big talk, but in a sense has decided to play footsie with the iran hands over, believe it or not, not syria, but over nuclear weapons and the desire for turkey to engage in a moment

with iran. when the prime minister essentially decided that he was going to turn the screws on the syrian regime -- he has backed off. he is no longer prepared to go that extra mile on behalf of his anger against the syrian government. >> are you suggesting that the united nations is not going to do anything? the arab league has effectively decided it is not going to do anything, and the turks, which were the one people that maybe could do anything, are not going to do anything either? what can be done? >> we need to start providing the type of military support to the opposition that could defeat the army. number two, the arab league said start leaning heavily on the russians. -- should start leaning heavily on the russians. it is not as the united states that wants to involve a unified security council. the entire arab league is angry with the russians and will not

stand for the russians standing in the way of some unified action against the syrian regime. in the end, the syrians believe they have the russians on their side, and as long as they believe they have that, there is nothing that can be done. >> thank you very much, mark, for coming in. now to afghanistan, where today france suspended its operations after road afghan soldiers shot dead four french troops and wounded at least 16 more. most of the troops from france in afghanistan are there only as trainers. nicolas sarkozy said he would consider an early withdrawal of all french units. this comes a day after six marines were killed in a helicopter crash. from kabul, we have this report. >> in some of the most dangerous areas in northern afghanistan, a french troops fight the taliban. alongside them, the afghan army.

they fight together and live together in close quarters. shoulder to shoulder is the slogan. after friday's killing, how much longer will the french stand alongside the afghan army? this evening in kabul, authorities revealed what happened. the french were conducting a training session. they were unarmed. an afghan officer opened fire, killing four and injuring 16. the french government says these were not combat deaths, but murders. this is the second such attack on french forces in the last few weeks. these killings are becoming more common. dozens of foreign soldiers have died when a afghans they served with turn on them. the administration denies there is a pattern to the attacks. >> these units have been working together in fighting together side by side for a long time and trust has developed. that makes it more necessary to look into every individual case, the reason behind it, the

background behind the story so that we can take precautionary measures and take steps that these cases do not happen again. >> there are around 3600 french troops in afghanistan. 52 have been killed since the war began in 2001. opinion polls in france suggest that 75% of people want immediate troops withdraw. in paris, president sarkozy is facing a tough reelection campaign. the killings may have made this unpopular war and election issue. he is suspending operations and hinting at troop withdrawals. >> the french army is not in afghanistan to be fired on by afghan soldiers. i have therefore decided to send the defense minister and the chief of staff to the armed forces to afghanistan immediately. until then, of training and combat operations by the french

army are suspended. >> france is a mainstay of the nato led a mission here. it is helping to train the soldiers said they can stand alone when foreign troops leave. if france leaves early, the fight against the taliban will be all the harder. bbc news, kabul. >> for more on how difficult that fight may be, i am joined by a retired army general. thank you for coming in. i want to get to the effect of a possible french withdrawal in just a moment, but let's talk about the attack itself. do you know the extent to which forces are infiltrated by fighters from the taliban or have wrote forces? >> what you have to assume is that there will be infiltration in certain numbers. the screening process, the training process and all the procedures you have to go through, they have to weed those folks out.

they either have to sell select out, not because there taliban, but because they cannot make it, or overtime they reveal themselves. there have to be a series of strong, not just background checks, but evaluations of these military forces. there will continue to be bad apples that infiltrates. we really do not know if this was motivated because of some kind of either a tribal issue or the fact that they were either taliban or al qaeda, or if this is simply a row individual who went off the rails and acted individually. >> given how important building of security forces are, there are involved in training, if they were to withdraw, there is a possible impact there. >> the concern that i have is that we have been in a rush to get afghan forces to the field. so, you have to go back and let

it the evaluation process. have we in fact jumped over certain criteria and brought folks on board so that we can build up the numbers as quickly as possible and scale that up? if the french were to depart, that simply increases the need to get more guys in quicker. you cannot allow that type of motivation to drop the standard. we have to concern ourselves every day -- and we know the leadership that is involved in this concern themselves with the standard of those afghan forces. they are endeavoring to make sure it is the folks with the right skill sets. >> this comes at the same time that nato is trying to convince the afghan government that there is not a coalition rush to leave the country. >> that has become a major problem. if france were to leave, we do not know that this is not the start of other nations beginning

to trickle out of the country. everyone is going to leave by 2014, maybe, but we do not want to have a rush to that this year. 2012 should not be the year we really decrease the forces before the established criteria is in place to maintain security by the afghan forces. it is absolutely critical to hold the line. >> well, in exactly one year from now we will be braving the cold here in washington, d.c., to bring you the inauguration of the next u.s. president. but right now in balmy south carolina, our eyes are in the republican contest to see who will take on barack obama in november. this primary has tipped the race. it is quite an ugly fight we are watching. >> south carolina clings to its heritage, even as the south changes all around it. here in the land of churches, religion is a powerful force.

evangelical christians are in the majority and can decide elections when united. but the christians are no more in agreement than other republicans. the man they have the most problem with is the front- runner, mitt romney. they worry that he was not always anti-abortion, but the real sticking point is his religion. he is a mormon. >> when you look at the doctrinal believes between biblical christianity and mormons, there is a separation that takes place, a separation of who god is. also a separation of who jesuses, what heaven will be, what eternity will look like. >> was south carolina's conservative christians do not know is who to follow instead. redemption is at the heart of their faith, but they may not be keen on a candidate who wanted

an open marriage. newt gingrich is married to wife no. 3. he became angry when a question about his adultery was put to him. >> i think the destructive nature of this media makes it harder to run this country, harder to attract decent people to run for office, and i'm appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with the topic like that. >> the candidates make sure they is it -- a visit this fast-food joint. the customers keep coming, but south carolina's economy is hurting. the tea party, which wants to cut government spending, is strong here. they see romney as lukewarm, but cannot agree who is hot. >> the just cannot have a candidate who has that complete

package of conservatism and a good history, someone who has taken the tea party values and not just talk about them, but applied them and how they have governed their state or operated on the floor of the senate. that person just did not arrive. >> the well-heeled elite may favor a more moderate candidate like mitt romney. sometimes this state by state exercise in the internal party democracy may drag on. if mitt romney manages to win here, he will look almost unstoppable. >> almost unstoppable. you are watching bbc world news america. still to come -- ♪ at last. >> remembering the celebrated singer, etta james, whose soulful sound leaves a lasting legacy.

living on the wrong side of the tracks in new york back in the 1930's and 1940's was a different, a dangerous place to be. gangsters ruled and murders were a feature of everyday life. being a witness to those advance -- events must have been terrifying, but that was the life of arthur fellig. >> murder made him famous. in his heyday, arthur fellig said the insatiable appetite of the tabloids with those of gruesome killings and the life of the new york underbelly. he scooped other photographers by tuning in to nypd frequencies so that he could get to the crime scenes before his rivals. in the 1930's and 1940's, new york was gangster territory, and it was dangerous. but arthur fellig created a

tough exterior of his own. >> he created a hardboiled persona with a fedora and a tough-talking captions that he would write. he had imperviousness to marching into the scene of a murder and casing it out and taking a very dramatic picture. he styled himself as a kind of photo detectives. >> but it was his knack for capturing public emotion that really gave him the edge. >> he also was looking for the human drama. if it was spectators, if it was sometimes a humorous sign that occurred in the frame of the picture, that is what he was going for, to enliven the picture with human interest. >> an exposition of his work, which includes a mockup of his office and some classic shot begins friday at the international center of photography in new york.

>> mention the name john coltrane and his legendary jazz music comes instantly to mind. now the house where he composed some of his greatest works, including "a love supreme," is under threat. thanks to the dedication of one long island man, there is an effort to save it. ♪ >> this is where it happened. this was his place of residence. this is where he woke up every day, composed what he felt in his heart, from here, from his family and his house. >> this rundown ranch house in the suburbs of long island is still standing to to steve.

a passionate coal train fan, it was steve to be staved off pulled -- coal train -- coltrane fan, it was steve who staved off bulldozers. >> to have this house standing for so long is miraculous. ♪ >> it was upstairs that nearly 50 years ago john coltrane locked himself in a room for days to compose what is perhaps his greatest masterpiece, "a love supreme." >> it is really an incredible feeling. when you are in this room, you can feel the spirit of john coltrane. >> just a few years later,

stricken with liver cancer, john coltrane was taken from this house to a nearby hospital and never returned. he was just 40 when he died. his son has carried on in the family trade and looks back fondly on the years he spent on long island with his father, his late mother, alice, who was also a musician, and his brothers. >> it is my home in a lot of ways. i spent the first six years of my life there. i have many memories of that home. my father was building a studio in the basement. we used to go down there and hang out with the microphone, cables and instruments. it felt like home. we dream of the space becoming some kind of cultural center. we just wanted to represent in

some way what they wanted to give to the world. ♪ >> there was a time when jazz was the soundtrack of new york and could be heard in countless venues throughout the city. but not anymore. the jazz is struggling to find new audiences, and that is all the more reason, say its supporters, the jon kyl train -- ltrane's house tra should be turned into a cultural center. >> we should restore it so that people can come and see the importance of what happened here. >> now to another celebrated musician who died today at the

age of 73. during at the james -- etta james' long career, she won six grammys. we look back on her life. last, my love has come a long. >> etta james and singing "at last." more than any other, it became her song. it was sung by beyonce at president obama's inauguration. her own life too was like a song, but and often sad and bitter one. she spent decades battling heroin addiction and in and out of jail. yet, she never stopped singing, even as crossover pop success elude her. >> she did what she wanted to

do. she was a very strong person. i do not think anybody could have said, well maybe we could do -- and if you did -- she did at last because she wanted to sing it. she did not do it because someone suggested it. she was her own person. >> she had been effectively abandoned by her 14-year-old mother, something that always troubled her. >> i do not know really what to say other than i wish my mother had been here to see me. ♪ >> but few could match the power of her voice or the range of her songs, soulful ballads to raucous rock and roll. ♪ >> the life ofetta james who has

died at the age of 73. that is it for today. from all of us here at bbc world news america, thank you so much for watching. >> make sense of international news at bbc.com/news. >> funding was made possible by the freeman foundation of new york, stowe, vermont, and honolulu. newman's own foundation. and union bank. >> at union bank, our relationship managers work hard to know your business, offering specialized solutions and capital to help you meet your growth objectives. we offer expertise and tailored solutions for small businesses and major corporations.

what can we do for you? >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet los angeles.

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