the u.s. considered air strikes against sunni rebels in iraq as the government regains control of the country's biggest oil refinery. ♪ ♪ hello, you are watching al jazerra. also ahead, a new reign in spain, crown prince felipe becomes king. and safe at last an injured explorer is rescued from germany's deepest cave after 12 days underground. plus, marching to their own beat the former child soldiers get ago i fresh start in the

democratic republic of congo. ♪ ♪ it is still unclear how washington will respond to iraq's request for air strikes against sunni rebels. there is increasing pressure on prime minister nouri al-maliki to resign to help unify the country. meanwhile, the iraqi army has taken back control of the country's biggest oil refinery a report with the latest. >> reporter: fighters from the islamic state in iraq and the levant are heading towards baghdad. other sunni groups link today the former leader sadam hussein are also taking part in this rebellions against the government. iraqi authorities are asking the united states to help push them back. >> what the united states is doing is about iraq. it is not about maliki. and nothing that the president decides to do is going to be focused specifically on prime minister maliki. it is focused on the people of iraq. >> reporter: washington hasn't ruled out air strikes, but so

far, it has been reluctant. it is not just because of domestic politics or the lack of intelligence gathering on the ground. the former commander of coalition forces in iraq has warned against any air strikes. u.s. general david petraeus says there is a great risk that the u.s. would be seen picking sides in a religious battle. adding, this cannot be the united states being the air force for shia militias or a shia sunni arab fight. it has to be a fight of all of iraq against extremists. the u.s. considers the islamic state of iraq and levant a terrorist organization, but it also happens to be a sunni force. the group has managed to exploit the grievances of iraq sunni minority who feel marginalized and targeted by the shia led government of nouri al-maliki. and that is why washington has been calling arrival leaders to younite and form an inclusive government. >> the americans would like to extract concessions from the

iraqi prime minister nouri al-maliki. they are putting a great deal of pressure nouri al-maliki in order to establish what they, the key word is an inclusive government. >> reporter: there are those, however, who believe that air strikes would change little on the ground. they could result in i haveville vinnie casual i and this could strengthen the isil. >> i think using anymore air strikes as more recruitment fuel. using it galvanize more resystems and power. even the the people that don't support isil or maliki will be seen it an attack on the population. >> reporter: this will be fought by nonstate actors and regional players, iraq's longest neighbor and long-time crit immaterial saudi a raper blaming [inaudible] for the problem. >> we reject any international intervention in the countries of the region, we also support the rightful demands of the people in those countries.

>> reporter: this crisis was years in the making. it is hard to see what options the u.s. has left when turkey has dismissed the idea of air strikes. and gulf states will not want their territories used for a military campaign that would save maliki's leadership. al jazerra. in a moment we'll have the latest reaction from washington. roslyn george canned is a jordae deem. but first let's go iraq with omar. tell us about the government taking back the refinery. >> reporter: well, the government said in a statement that they would control it totally. this is their plan. they have sent reinforcements to the area. a huge number of military personnel and equipment. however, it is not now been cleared by the rebels. our sources there say the rebels are still controlling the town and they are surrounding government forces near the airport. the government now says they are

clearing three areas within the city. so the fighting is still ongoing there. it's not clear if the government really liberated there. let me give you the latest development that i have now. police in kirkuk have confirmed that 44 workers who work for an electric company, they were kidnapped yesterday on wednesday, they were released today. they four turkish nationals, 27 from -- the rest from china. they were kidnapped on their way from samarra to kirkuk, they were on their way and they were released today, thursday, and they were given to the tribal chiefs who were mediating the efforts. >> okay, omar, certainly that is good news. we know iraq wants the u.s. to step in. i wonder if we are going to hear that in the next half an hour

when program makes his address. let's speak to roslyn jordan at the state department. what are you expecting, roslyn? >> reporter: well, what we are expecting is some sort of resolution, perhaps. and i stress the word perhaps. there had been the usual raft of briefings from a number of the president's national security team, including from here at the state department. we were also expecting to hear from the secretary of defense chuck hagel, he was meeting with one of his counterparts, the german defense minister. all of those briefings have been canceled because we are expecting to hear from president obama. at approximately 1630gm -- it. he is meeting at this sour with the members of his national security team including the second secretary of state, defense secretary, the head of the national intelligence, cia, his national security adviser as well as other advisers, this is

a critical moment, jane, because just this morning we heard from secretary of state john kerry suggested that the contact which top u.s. officials had had earlier this week in vienna with their iranian counter parts was simply a way of finding out what both sides were planning to do about the situation in iraq, it was not, the secretary said, an effort to see whether this should be any sort of coordination and response to the crisis going forward, that is that is a change in the message that had one coming from the obama administration in recent days. >> yes, it is, and we'll be live as soon as he starts talking. thanks for that. people are fleeing their homes desperate to escape a military often from the taliban. we have more. >> reporter: they left on foot

when no help arrived. the bombs kept coming. pakistan's military says it will continue its operation until the last fighters is fleshed. he and his seven children have sought refuge in this school. he's worried about those left behind and angry at the lack of preparation. >> translator: there is no food. we have been suffering for months, innocent people are dieing, we have nothing. >> reporter: almost everyone we spoke who came to the town shared similar sentiments. some have come to the adjoining city after going through multiple checkpoints and searches. tribal areas disaster manage and the prevention disaster management authorities say they are making arrangements for those being displaced. hundreds of trucks were allowed to go in to get those stuck inside. and those who came out say the government's claims of providing free transportation were just that. the government also says it will provide every destitute family $70 a month as many have already

sought shelter with relatives. but it isn't convincing those being made homeless. >> translator: this is cruel and unjust. i an elder of the area. if they wanted to target foreign fighters we would have gone with them. they should have come to us before sending jets for bomb us. >> reporter: the military says it's killed more than 200 fighters, mostly foreigners. media has not been given access to the area where the operation is being carried out. and those coming out say thousands who cannot afford transport, including the elderly, sick, and wounded remain trapped between the cal ta*l ban and the army. al jazerra, pakistan on the border. up to four taliban fighters have attacked a nato post near the afghan border with pakistan. officials say dozens of trucks were destroyed and there was a gun battle with police. it happened near the crossing. a major supply route for nato. the provincial governor says young attacked and police killed the others.

spain's new king felipe the sixth has promised to be a monarchy for the new times. the head of state has been proclaimed before a ceremony in madrid. >> reporter: this was the moment the father handed the reins to the son. the red sash of the captain general, the military's highest rank passed to its new command never chief, king felipe the sixth. in parliament, felipe was sworn in and then he spoke directly to the people it seemed. striking a note of humility in the face of financial scandal that has engulfed the monarchy. >> translator: the monarchy must look to be closer to the people and know how to keep winning their appreciation, respect, and confidence. >> reporter: renewal, transparency, those are the things expected of him. a break with the recent past as calls for a referendum on the monarchy grow. >> i think he wanted to mark a contrast with his father, at least the perceived image of his

father right now, and this is an important mess midge. the fact that some things are going change. people needed to hear that. >> reporter: a reason to cheer, perhaps. even at some mourn the dreadful exit of their football team from the world cup in brazil on wednesday night. >> we are just seeing the change of head of state and to the state, not celebrating or focusing on anything else. that's it. >> felipe is young and used to go to the cinemas with the people, concerts with his wife, so he's in the street, so he knows that he feels what the street wants. >> reporter: they say he's the right man for the circumstances, king felipe a, vi. but the circumstances here are grim, years of financial crisis that have blighted the lives of so many and may well do so for the years to come. the real question is, will the circumstances prove right for him. the king is not responsible for

the economic crisis nor can he do much about it. but the way people are able to live their lives in spain will have much to do with the way they judge his. jonah hull, al jazerra, madrid. an injured explorer trapped in germany's deepest cave system has finally been brought to the surf as after 12 days underground. johan sustained head and chest injuries after a rock fell on him while exploring the network of caves in bavaria. now a report. >> reporter: a climb that should have taken 12 hours to complete end after 12 days. johan had lane seriously injured deep underground while hundreds of people tried to rescue him. literally meaning giant or massive thing the cave network is more than a thousand meters deep. at times wide open. at times narrower than the width of a man. it stretches for more than 19-kilometers underground.

officials say the challenges they faced in rescuing johan were unprecedented. >> translator: ladies and gentlemen, i don't want to sound too dramatic but i think one can say that during the last 12 days here at the mountain, we have managed to write a piece of alpine rescue history. what made the rescue so difficult was a combination of the depth of the cave, the extension of johan's injuries and his remoteness from the surface. rescuers could not use powered winches to lift him because of the risk if he banged against the walls during the ascent. instead, his stretcher had to be lifted by hand, slowly being brought to safety. the final stretch was more than 180 meters. johan was one of the explorers who discovered the network in 1995. ever since, he's gone back for research and as his hobby. at times, he may have wondered if he would ever get out.

but now, thanks to a multi-national operation, he has. dominick kane, al jazerra. so lots more to come, including a cloud from burning canopies, albania tries to show it's getting tough on the drug trade and. >> reporter: i am rob reynolds in california national redwood park with a report on a new threat to these ancient trees. borough bandit tree. ♪ ♪

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quick reminder of the top stories on al jazerra. the iraqi army has regained control of the country's biggest oil refinery. but sunni rebels are still in control of the surrounding town. the u.s. is still considering air strikes against the rebels. president obama is due to give a statement in the next hour. in pakistan, 10s of thousands of people in the north are fleeing from their homes. government has launched an offensive against the tell ban there and says it's killed more than 200 fighters. spain's new king felipe vi has promised to be a monarch for new times, he's been proclaimed the head of state at a ceremony in madrid. the fighting in iraq has forced 10s of thousands to flee their homes, some from one of the countries most vulnerable communities. here is more. >> reporter: they hastily fled when mosul fell in the hands of rebels, they are christians, one of the most ancient communities of iraq, they feel abandoned.

>> we received indirect messages from the people who occupied mosul that they have nothing to do with us and not to feel threatened. their target is different. what does it mean? we don't know. what will happen next? we don't know. the syrian example does not promise anything good. >> reporter: many among the displaced still worry. and prefer to remain anonymous in fear of retaliation. the town? the so-called disputed territory but part of the province. it relies n on mosul for servic. water and electricity were cut off a few days ago. the only water available is salty and undrinkable and during these hot summer days, tempers are high. >> translator: where is nouri al-maliki? where is the world? take us out of here. we don't want to live here anymore. every day we have to change location. what is the solution? >> reporter: since the sunni rebellion began over a week ago the town is like an isolated

enclave. people are on their own. here too the army pulled out. there is some local police because they are actually from this area. the kurdish forces stepped in, but the presence of the sunni rebels just a few kilometer as way from here is worrying everybody. the fears are common among the many villagers and towns it of all ethnicities that straddle the border between the kurdish region and the rest of iraq. it's a thousand kilometer long and was secured by a joint iraqi-kurdish force formed ahead of the u.s. pull out in 2010. >> translator: the iraqi army is only present on the last 50-kilometers near the iranian border. the sunni rebels have taken their positions on places all along the line. >> reporter: the town formed its own protection militia a few years ago, unlikely armed forces that worked alongside security force to his protection the town and its churches. >> we know everyone here. police have maybe 100 people. we are 1500 strong and we have

to protect our homes. >> reporter: but the men admit they could not fend off any outside attack. half of the community has already fled. al jazerra. kenyon security forces have killed five people they say were behind two attacks earlier this week. they were shot dead in the coastal county. gunmen killed 65 people in two days of violence near the town there. kenya's president has blamed the attacks on local political networks. thousands of child soldiers in democratic republic of congo have been rescued from rebels in the pat five year old part of campaign to disarm and rehabilitate them. but child protection agencies warn that hundreds of children are still being forced in to conflict each year. katherine sends this report from a rescue center for child soldiers there. >> reporter: most of these boys are between 14 and 16 years old. here they learn the swa m swa m

fa bet but they did not go to school regularly. they were fighting along the groups defense forests and remote villages. they have 50 boys rescued in the last two months. >> my biggest concern about not just these children but all children in the dfc is the cyclic nature of the conflict. today we are in a situation where there is relative peace, tomorrow we don't know. we might -- a new group might decide to, you know, become active. and that poses a direct risk to the children. >> reporter: he was 13 which he was abducted together with his brothers by the rebel group. he watched the rubbles kill them when they were resisted. in the four years he was in the group, he fought many battles against government soldiers, and

other rebel groups. he escaped two months ago. >> translator: i took a torch and a grenade and just left. i got lost in the forest and spent a month trying to fight my way out until i stumble odd a village where they help me. >> reporter: since january, about 2,000 children that are 18 years old have been disarmed in an ongoing national program. these children have fought for different rebel groups and against each other. here they are taught how to coexist, basic life skills and just to have fun. the centers across this province, this gal was returned to her parents three months ago. she was pregnant. poverty at home prompted her to run off with a rebel fighter and leave in the battle frontline with him a year ago. she's now 15, her baby two months old. >> translator: she came back

pregnant. we could not turn her away. life is hard here. i have many other children, but we'll still see how we can survive. >> reporter: they are the lucky ones. thousands of other children are still out there as fighters, porterses and wives. many still trying to get out. katherine soy, al jazerra, in the democratic republic of congo. ukraine's president has confirmed that he will sign a long-awaited trade pack with the e.u. next week. he says a new plan for peace will be presents today e.u. foreign ministers. ukraine's foreign government abandoned a trade deal with the e.u. in november sparking mass protests. it divided ukraine along pro-russia and pro-e.u. lines and led to the overthrow of the former president victor yanukovych. police in albania have broken up a billion dollars crime ring in the south and a major crack town on illegal

operations. hundreds raided the village with $6 billion worth of marijuana a year. the operation comes just before talks on whether the country will join the e.u. as lawrence lee reports. >> reporter: the smoke rising over the little village in southern albania, it actually clouds of burnt marijuana destroyed by its manufacturers as the police moved in. after years and years of this place allegedly being out of the grasp of the authorities, it's now being held up as an example of how albania with its lawless reputation may be turning a corner. overtime, this entire village had been taken over by drugs gangs running an absolutely massive cannibus operation worth billions of years, it was a perfect point from which to supply european drug markets. but albania wants to join the european union and its new socialist government is eager to

show it's serious, so just a few days before the talks on a albania's chances of joining the european club. this raid hardly seems cohens dental timing. >> translator: we will bring nor mall at this and what you to the region. the police are working on it. they are fighting against armed militants this shows not our our will but ability to fight against drug smuggling. >> reporter: so big was this it is said to be worth half what albania produces every year. they are said to be going after similar factories in the coming days. nicholas maduro has apologize for the death of a german businessman. he was killed in a shooting in a hotel in caracas on wednesday. hours after arriving in the capital. maduro says police are close to identifying his killers. according to the united nations,

venezuela has one of the world's highest homicide rates. a series of tornadoes hit the u.s. state of sa south dakoa on wednesday destroying several businesses and injuring one person. the twisters touched down in a number of towns between lake sharp and sioux falls. meteorologists say winds peaked at 200-kilometers an hour. thieves in northern california are stealing priceless natural resources from redwood national park in eureka, california. rob reynolds reports. >> reporter: park rangers jeff and laura denny are approaching a crime scene. the victim an extremely elderly, long-term resident of this area, was attacked in the dead of night. his assailants mutilated the victim with a chainsaw. this is the victim of the attack. a towering ancient redwood tree. >> what we have behind us is an old redwood tree, a tree that's

probably 700 or a thousand years old. >> reporter: the chainsaw wielding thieves were after these, redwood burrows, knobby lumps that grow on the sides of the three. >> it is a type of wood that is valued by woodworkers. >> reporter: each piece with fetch up to a thousand dollars, the bandits have did he faced dozens of trees so far and more crime scenes likely remain undiscovered. >> every time we discover one of these big cut sites it's shocking: nin. >> reporter: the road to redwood national park is loaded with burl cuts. shop owner jim simsin sims sayse never buys uncut wood. >> they need it knock it off because it's hurting my business in the long run. >> reporter: two alleged burl bandits have been arrest sewed far. >> we were able to match burls having been cut from one of our sites to a gift shop.

>> reporter: one man has been convicted of felony theft and vandalism and faces jail time. burl banditry is a well testify recent phenomenon but so is the attitude of reference towards these ancient trees when the first settlers came here in the 19th century they saw the redwoods no, sir at irreplaceable but as lumber. >> so down they come. some of the world's oldest, biggest and tallest trees. >> reporter: this 1940s educational film celebrated redwood logging in triumphant tones. but the 1960s, 95% of all old-growth redwoods were gone. in light of that sad history, today's burl bandits hurt more than trees. >> when you come in to a place like this that can be described as cathedral like and you see this kind of desecration, it hurts the -- it hurts the soul. >> reporter: this tree, rangers

say, will likely survive. they are counting on public awareness to foil future burl burglars. rob reynolds, al jazerra, redwood national park, california. one of the world's rarest whales has been spotted off the southern coast of australia. the all-white hump back was spotted near botany bay, sydney. it is flaking its annual migration. other whales were also seen making the journey. finally, 11-year-old lucy lee is preparing to pay the biggest event event in golf latn thursday, the american became the youngest person in history to qualify for the vent. she won the sectional qualifier at half moon bay in california by seven strokes in may. lee began playing when she was seven and four years later says she's not out to prove anything at pinehurst. >> perfectly -- i just want to go out there and have fun and play the best that i can. and i really don't care about

the outcome, it's just i want to have fun. and learn. i can learn -- i want to learn a lot from these great players. incredible. reminder that you can keep up-to-date with all the news by logging onto our website the the address aljazerra.com. i am lisa fletcher and you are this. today thousands of minors are crossing the u.s. mexico board alone and ending up in shelters under federal custody. just how unanticipated was the surge and subsequent shellerring crisis. plus undocumented pima frayed to report crimes because of their immigration status. how that fear could be turning their communities in to targets. and later, rogue soldiers in the mexican army. confrontations between border protection and mexican soldier on his u.s. soil. sometimes resulting in attacks