join us again monday in the "the situation room." you can watch us live or dvr the show so you won't miss a moment. thanks for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the "the situation room." situation room." the news continues next on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com america takes aim for the second time. a new round of air strikes in iraq but will it be enough to keep the terrorist group isis from slaughtering tens of thousands of refugees. who are the people that isis are trying to murder and why? we have a special report 5b9 the yazidis in the middle east. and the cease-fire ends in violence. we go to gaza for the very latest. let's go "outfront."

good evening, everyone, out out tonight, america is once again attacking the enemy in iraq. a second round of u.s. air strikes against the terror group isis. the united states military is defending the city of erbil where americans are on the ground and in danger. the united states thought erbil would be safe. but isis is now 19 miles from the city. isis fighters would like nothing more than to kill americans and they said as much to vice media. here's a look at the press officer. >> i say to america that the islamic caliphate has been

established. send your soldiers the ones we humiliated in iraq. we will humiliate them everywhere, god willing. we will raise the flag of ayla in the white house. >> and you heard right, the flag flying over the white house. as for how long the united states is going to continue this campaign against them remains unclear. >> the president has not laid out a specific end date we're going to sort of take this approach in which those kinds of decisions are evaluated regularly. and are driven by the security situation on the ground. >> and this has all happened so quickly. isis making key advances throughout june and july and they now control the country's largest dam. and if they breach it there are a half million people in its path all the way to baghdad. so far isis has slaughtered

thousands of iraqis in the most brutal of ways, saying convert to islam or die. not one of the men in this video survived. thousands of people are now trapped on a mountain ridge. they are iraqi yazidis. they have no food or water. the u.s. has been dropping provisions but many of these people have no way out. tens of thousands of other iraqis have been driven from their homes. right now we want to get you to the late most the u.s. air strikes. i want to go to barbara starr at the pentagon. what do we know about the air strikes? >> in less than 24 hours we have had two rounds of air strikes, earlier a round against a position outside offerab erbil

one against a convoy of vehicles and a mortar obligation and another against another mortar position. one with a drone with hellfire missiles and from a plane off the deck of the george w. bush in the persian gulf. they are looking at the picture and isis positions and strike when they are getting too close to erbil and threatening that city. the u.s. making the case it will defend erbil. mosul has fallen. they will not let this city fall, they say, in large part because u.s. personnel are there and they want them to be able to stay there and do their job. also, you know, we have not seen air strikes in the other crucial area. that mountain top where those tens of thousands of people are

stranded. we are told if isis moves on them we are likely to see additional air strikes in that area. how did isis get to this point? they are fighting like an army. they are heavily armed. they have a strategy. they move, they take territory, they hold territory. all the kind of thing that perhaps years ago, al qaeda aspired to but was not able to achieve. >> heavily armed with american threat product as well. so many of our own supplies to the iraqi army. i want to go to sigh van watson in erbil where thousands are fearing for their lives and the sound of the u.s. air strikes is so close they can be heard. how do things look now there? >> reporter: well the kurdish leadership was very jittery. the city was very jittery on wednesday night, thursday after

the isis advanced to positions within 35 miles of where i'm standing now. but senior kurdish officials tell me that last night was much calmer and throughout the day was quieter. they didn't face the expected assault from isis militants that they were really waiting for and that that has given the kurd irk peshmerga time to regroup and reorganize their defenses. a top official in the government says that more than at least 1r50 kurdish peshmerga fighters dies in the last six days alone, at least 500 also wounded. the kurdish peshmerga have been bloodi bloodied by the isis militants in the last couple days and that is what has caused the peshmerga to pull back and a half million

displaced iraqis who have flooded in now. >> among the half million who fled there, i think the americans thought as much as well positioning the military advisers there. can you talk about the americans and the refugees? >> i haven't got a look at the u.s. military or diplomatic presence on the ground here. but i've certainly seen this -- enormous flood of displaced iraqis and it's pretty emotional to see. all of these people left in a matter of hours wednesday night as the kurdish peshmerga were pushed out of towns and villages and members of the mosaic of ethnic and religious minority who have lived for thousands of years in northern iraq sent running by any means possible.

and there is a christian contingent here. more than 100,000 are on the run. i saw people sleeping in the pews of the churches outside a shadow of a church in community recreation centers in unfinished apartment buildings and office buildings, trying to find anywhere possible to put their families. there are efforts to give these people water and give them food. but what is really sad to see, frankly, is that these people know they probably will not be able to go back home any time in the near future. they have been suddenly made homeless and there is no hope of any real place to go. this is a major humanitarian crisis unfolding as we speak here. >> and just the fear with isis so incredibly close.

ivan watson reporting live tonight from erbil, iraq. and joining me now, the direct you for iraq at the national security council and lieutenant general david -- who was the planner for operation desert storm in 1981. the air strikes as we hear round one and later today round two. is this really -- is this really something that can really change the metric on the ground? >> i think it certainly can. while i hesitate to speak about air power with the general here, air power is good at attacking forces on the offense. if you are hiding in your hole or next to your house or in a building, air power has limitations. but if you are picking up and moving down a road, any pilot can see you from the air and that's the environment in which

air power really excels. when the president says that we're going to keep isis from moving into erbil and moving into baghdad where the american presences are, i think that's a check he can cash. >> douglas, you think it can stop them in their tracks, do you think that air strikes can repel isis or wipe them out if this becomes a broader campaign? >> well, the short answer to your question is yes. air power can have a very significant effect relative to the current situation. it is very interesting how similar the current activity that's unfolding in northern iraq is parallel to what went on in april of 1991. for your audience that can't remember or recall, you had a similar kind of assault on the kurds and the tribes in the region. but at the time it was conducted by saddam's forces.

today it's being conducted by isis. the reaction was the united nations passed u.n. security county resolution 688 which was the beginning of operation provide comfort and the use of a no-fly zone. at that time there were 700,000 iraqi refugees and the application of that no-fly zone in conjunction with the efforts of the kurds on the ground relieved the situation. so the application of air can really make a difference. >> let me ask you, douglas if you think this mission which a lot of people see as three-fold, save the meshes who are in erbil with 19 miles between them and isis. number two, save the yazidis who are starving in the mountains and possibly crush isis. can it be done without boots on the ground and i'm suggesting american boots because so far

the iraqis have been worthless. >> i don't think account be done in terms of pushing back isis gains. if isis continues to push to erbil or baghdad the united states air force has a hunting license to destroy them in detail and they will excel at that. but when we talk about pushing them out of mosul or fallujah that will require boots on the ground. i don't think anyone thinks that americans will do that again. >> in terms of crushing isis if that is the broader mission at some point some of the congressmen have said go all the way into syria where they are also waging a campaign. is that wise to start opening up that broad of a front? >> let me answer that question in the context of we're not beginning to jump into operational level and tactical level issues and you really can't answer those questions in the absence of a coherent,

strategic objective. once those are laid out we can look at what we want to accomplish through the use of force. let me take a different tact in using abexample of the opening phases of operation enduring freedom in afghanistan where what the united states brought to that equation was air power. we used air power in conjunction with indigenous force boots on the ground at that point, the northern alliance and we were able to accomplish our critical u.s. national security objectives within three months. we installed a regime friendly to the united states. by the end of 2001, similar kinds of outcomes can occur by using that kind of model bringing what's unique to the

united states in this situation, effective, massive air power in conjunction with the kurdish peshmerga on the ground. it's been proven to be successful in the past and we can do it again in the future but it's we can't just limit ourselves to pinprick tit-for-tat strikes. isis is leevl and need to be eliminated. >> looks like the beginnings are there. how far it will go is anyone's guest. thank you for your time tonight. "outfront" next. tens of thousands of iraqi refugees are running for their lives tonight. who are the yazidis and why does isis want to exterminate them. how dangerous is isis? we have video that shows how horrific the atrocities are that

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u.s. fighter jets in the air and launching new air strikes in iraq. their target?

militants belonging to isis or the islamic state of iraq and syria. thousands of iraqis have had to flee for their life. the yazidis are facing a slow and painful death. 40,000 were stranded on a mountainside with little foote food and water. kids have been literally dying of thirst. some have managed to escape. but the majority are waiting for humanitarian drops from american planes just to survive. who are they? and why do isis want them dead? >> reporter: the yazidis have been targeted for centuries. 2007, hundreds were killed in truck bombs in northern iraq, al

qaeda was blamed. tens of thousands fear starvation as they hide in the mountains, this time running from isis. the yazidis are ethnic kurds and are a sect that draws from christianity, islam and an ancient persian faith. >> we believe in one god as everybody believe and the seven angels. >> translated as the peacock angel they believe they were derived from adam but not eve. this is their most sacred site. they are expected to make at least one pilgrimage here during their lifetime. iraq has an overwhelming muslim majority. 99% at last country. .8% are christian. and the yazidi are one of the

smallest minorities in the country. >> they are very peaceful and friendly. >> several hundred yazidis live in lincoln, nebraska. this footage shows them protesting this week outside government offices calling for action in iraq. the same call outside the white house. >> yazidi women are being raped and kidnapped and imprisoned. it's terrible what is happening to our people. >> reporter: a yazidi member of the iraqi parliament pleads for help. warning of genocide. a people scattered and on the run but they are fast running out of places to hide. >> and "outfront" tonight, military analyst rick francona who has spent time in iraq and this area. and jacob silverburg who has

been to the mountains where the yazidis are right now struggling to survive. jacob, you have been there and on those mountain tops. you know the terrain. does it seem as though that bouw colic area is the least bit capable of supporting tens of thousands of refugees? >> the mount that i remember was barron, rocky and scrub brus but not a forest. at the time, many lived at the base of the mountain. the mountain itself had terrace farming and poor yazidis but it didn't seem capable of playing host to a large number of people. >> let's drill down on where it is we are look here. as we look at the map this is a large country but as you move

northward you can see where we are in relation to baghdad. we are going to try to show overhead where the yazidis are located. so walk me through what we're seeing. where they are in relation to this. >> this is in the northwestern corner of the country close to the syrian border. this is a mountain ridge called sinjar mountain. you can see how barron -- bare -- barren it is. and there are craggy peaks and it's rocky. you have peaks and valleys which makes it difficult to drop supplies. >> the u.n. request for a humanitarian corridor. i don't understand how you would

effectuate this with air coverage. >> this is 50 miles to anywhere friendly. the syrian border is to the west but that is all controlled by isis. isis surrounds the entire mountain. erbil is that way about 70 miles. 50 miles to the nearest kurdish area. you are talking about having to fight your way in and fight your way out or come to an agreement with isis which i don't think is viability. >> they are at the bottom of donkey trails waiting for them to come down to execute them. they are dependent on what the americans are doing right now, they are positioned to obviously. >> the problem is you can literally keep dropping supplies indefinitely. the problem is can they survive up there? it's hot during the day. at night there's no shelter. you can't -- it's difficult to drop enough.

we could probably do it. but you can't do that forever. you have to get the people off the mountain. where do you take them? how do you get them down? the air drops present a challenge. if you don't get them where the people have access to them then it's just a waste. if you put them too close to where isis is, isis shoots them as they get their supplies. >> when those c-130s fly over there they have to fly low and slow to drop the pallets. >> they are trying to stay just above shoulder fired missile range which for safety right at 17,000, 18,000 feet which is a little high but you can still effect what you're trying to do. >> you don't think they have tanks? >> not at that altitude. but did isis get their hands on

something more power like the buk system. if they got something from the syrians. isis can move things quickly. that's why you have these fa-18s flying with them. they are outfitted with the warning gear. they will react immediately. >> and this is now a constant combat air patrol. and one quick question to jacob. aspent a lot of time in afghanistan and the people of afghanistan are more hardy than i. but what about this? do you sense that the people you knew, the friendly people you described, the yazidis, can they weather this? >> well, i think that when i was there, there were yazidis living on the mountain but also in villages at the base of the mountain. those on the mountains can

continue to live there. i worry about their ability to play host to the more urban yazidis who live down below and their ability to live outside their villages and for the farms to support and sustain everyone. >> jacob and colonel thank you for your insight into this tragic situation. just how violent is isis? we have video that proves its reputation as one of the most brutal terror groups on the planet. and the ebola outbreak gets worse. we hear from one of the americans right now being treated in isolation for ebola in the united states. [ female announcer ] we help make secure financial tomorrows a reality

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struck an artillery position with 500-pound laser-guided bombs. the islamic terrorists have forced tens of thousands to flee. the militants released a video showing their vicious acts. i have to warn our viewers that have this is extremely graphic and disturbing to watch. this is the brutal execution of countless christians and minority groups, men who are literally being marched to their death. from a blooding execution site their bodies are being pushed into a river. others shot in a line one by one, defenseless. there's a lot more of these images that we cannot air because they are just so horrifying. jim sciutto is following the develops with isis. i'm going to get to the brutality in a moment. but i want you to touch on the

air strikes if you can, the united states strategy acting now as opposed to acting earlier when this first got underway. can you walk me through this? >> for sure. even as isis gained all this territory first in syria and now in iraq, the administration's position has been this is an iraqi problem. it's their challenge to be met and that position frankly stays the same. what changed is two things, one you have these yazidi people under threat in sinjar stuck on a mountain, surrounded. they dropped the aid and they have been doing air strikes in preparation for a humanitarian corridor. the administration could not stomach the idea of 40,000 people being potentially massacred here. the second one is this, in erbil you have a large u.s. presence, military advisers and hundreds

of diplomats as well. and look at this. this is where the u.s. consulate is is in erbil. where isis fighters are shelling into the city here. that is too close for comfort for the administration and now the air strikes to protect the kurdish controlled areas in erbil. as far as the broader threat the administration says it's up to the iraqis to push back. but frankly that's something that the iraqi military and kurdish military has not been able to do. >> isis is not the richest army in the world but they are terrifyingly fearsome. it's like genghis kahn the violence they are meeting out on their victims. >> they may not be the richest

army but they are arguably the richest terrorist group. they have tens of millions of dollars and have something that no one else does, all of this territory in a crucial part of the world, a base of operations to train fighters. this is a worry of u.s. intelligence officials that they are being trained and foreign fighters, more than 100 americans, the fear is they're being trained to be sent home to carry out attacks. this is something that al qaeda never had this much territory and money and unchallenged base for operations not just in the region but in europe and the american homeland. when i speak to intelligence officials we have never seen anything as dangerous as this. >> jim sciutto from washington, thank you, sir. and joining me is philip mudd a former fbi and cia official. phil in terms of what's

happening right now with these air strikes and the mission that seems obvious for one, the americans are there, the 40,000 potential victims of a slaughter are there. but isis just keeps getting worse. is this a strategy that the americans should effectuate right now? wipe them out when they are contained? >> what we're doing now is to defend a bit of territory between isis and the kurds. in the past we talked about the threat of isis to baghdad. the question over time is going to revolve around a couple of issues, number one is the durability of our operations. these guys are committed. if you look at the history of insurgency people motivated by religion are more durable than those motivated by politics or economics. the second issue is whether we transition from trying to defend the kurds or yazidis to whether we try to decapitate isis.

do you want to go after the leadership of the organization? right now we're just on day one or day two of an operation that if we're serious could go on for weeks or months. >> i don't see what makes them so different philosophically from other terror groups like al qaeda. they are brutal. they have the religious philosophy and political agenda. hamas, hezbollah. why are they so able to recruit? >> to my mind there are a couple differences between them and other groups in north africa. for one, they're a tremendous magnate right in the heartland of the arab world. somalia was not viewed as in the heartland of the arab world. for a european or someone from a city in the united states who is motivated by radical islam this

is in the heartland. number two, the tremendous success of this organization isn't limited to a small geographic space in iraq. you are talking about an organization that erased a border between syria and iraq and announced itself a few weeks ago that it is restoring the caliphate that was destroyed a century ago. this is a tremendous magnet for people who are look to join a group like this. >> it's so mist fystifying that anyone could want to be a part of it but it's happening. phil mudd, thank you sir. up next a fresh round of air strikes in iraq and focusing on areas of kurd stan. and then the mideast cease-fire.

yes, it is over and that's the picture. violence once again in gaza and once again we are live there where the shelling has resumed. that's keeping you from the healthcare you deserve.. at humana, we believe the gap will close when healthcare changes. when frustration and paperwork decrease. when healthcare becomes simpler. so let's do it. let's simplify healthcare. let's close the gap between people and care.

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breaking news. a new round of u.s. air strikes in iraq. american war planes attacking targets in kurdistan belonging to the terror group isis. this is an area that has long been considered iraq's safest and the kurds are a crucial ally to the united states. that's why it is so support that the united states does not allow kurdistan to fall into the hands of the militants. >> reporter: america's air strikes in iraq highlights the importance of washington's relationship with the kurds. >> the kurds are the very best friends we have in the middle east. they've always been there, second only to israel. we have no better friends there. >> reporter: now the friends are facing their toughest enemies in two decades in the form of isis

or known as the islamic state, the extremists who are ter terrorizing their way through iraq. >> reporter: the u.s. has been a strong ali to the kurds and president barzahni. the rest of the country has deteriorated along sectarian lines. the kurdish fighters have a good reputation but ammunition is running low. if the kurds fall it could lead to a domino effect. >> this is a terrorist organization that has ambitions not only in iraq and syria and the region. but also regionally and therefore it could pose a threat ultimately to the united states. >> reporter: america's support for the kurds soared after

hundreds of thousands of people were brutalized under the rule of saddam hussein. the kurds have long made overtures to iran forging alliances on all sides but see personally to the united states. >> that has created a loyalty which explains why the united states is getting involved right now and why the u.s. wasn't involved a week ago. >> reporter: now two decades later, the kurds are an ali that the u.s. can't afford to lose and may be critical in the attempt to stop isis. the mideast cease-fire ending in violence. we go to gaza where the shelling has indeed resumed. two americans with ebola being treated in the united states but not before some very brave pilots flew them thousands of miles home from africa. and specifically on board an

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. breaking news, a barrage of rockets ends the three-day

cease-fire between israel and gaza. both sides now again firing at one another. at least 50 rockets were fired from gaza when the truce was ended and israel responded on 70 militant targets. if there is any chance of resuming the cease-fire negotiations, table. martin salve individual -- saisn gaza city. >> reporter: it's grown quiet but then a few mere moments before we came to air, you could hear the thud and thump of sounded like an air strike to the south and it's been like that for much of the day. it's been back and forth. it wasn't hamas that started things off this time, it was islamic jihad, which is an indication this isn't a

one-company town you could say and they decided the moment the seize fire expired, 8:00 a.m. with no extension they fired rockets off there are other barrag barrages. they decided it was time retall yit. it seems like air strikes are the favorite means of retaliation. they are heavy when they happen. you get a loud whomp and force but they also seem to be more accurate than the artillery and tank fire used before. that could be noted some by a death toll now of five or six, as if that is anything to be happy about. it's not. especially as they close in on the 1900 number of palestinians killed since this operation began. it's just really, really tragic that they could not even extend the seize fire, let alone try to work out the obviously deep disagreements. >> and to that end, how do the gaza people feel about that because it was their representatives who said no, we're not going to extend a

seize fire unless we got hard core demands. the israelis said they would extend the seize fire. are they okay with this? >> reporter: they could never be okay with this, of course. they are the ones that suffered the most. israelis, too, have had a great loss of life but those have been primarily soldiers. and not that that's any discount, but what i'm saying, you don't get honest opinions on the street. right now people are frustrated, firing missiles is one way to release the trust ration but will not solve the problem. >> be careful with you and your crew and thank you for your brave reporting. coming up next, breaking news, the american doctor who is being treated in the u.s. for ebola is now speaking out for the first time and telling us in his own words about his condition. you'll hear them next. when folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. but the energy bp produces up here creates something else as well:

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breaking news, cnn received a message from dr. kent brantly. he's one of the two americans who are being treated for ebola here in the united states and brantly's message reads and i'll quote, i'm writing this update from my isolation room at emory university hospital where the doctors and nurses are providing the very best care possible.

i am growing stronger every day and i thank god for his mercy as i have wrestled with this terrible disease. health workers and pilots used a very special medical plane to transfer dr. brantly and another american ebola patient, nancy writebol from liberia to the united states, and our own david mattingly got an up close and very rare personal access to this plane. david? >> reporter: ashley, this is the very jet that brought the ebola patients home for treatment and on the outside, it doesn't look like anything extraordinary but what made this flight so unusual were the special precautions that had to be taken to prevent infection and some of the special equipment they used like this plastic medical tent. come inside with me here. this is where the patients had to fly while they were inside the airplane, and this was just their first stop in a very long ride home. on two separate missions, the

crew of the this gulf stream g 3 jet had one critical task, collect ebola patients, dr. kent bradley and nancy writebol and bring them home alive but to do so without themselves getting infected demanded unusual precaution. the suit you're putting on is to keep you alive and from getting infected. >> yes. >> reporter: this is the only space you had to work? >> yes. >> reporter: jonathan jackson was a nurse on board both missions. he shows me the special tight-fitting medical tent they had to use to house the patients during the flight. despite the sterile appearances, it's comfort. >> you have an illness killing you and will go somewhere giving you the best chance of surviving. >> reporter: the tent is especially made containment system that keeps the air patients breathe from escaping into the cabin.

consider how long medical personnel and the pilots were sealed inside the plane with the patient patients, 14 hours, this tent an intense contamination procedures make sure medical personnel and pilots are safe, the patients go in but ebola doesn't get out. >> they were spraying every step that the patient, every step he walked and it was very, very safety-minded loading procedures. >> it was almost over kill. it was -- if there is such a thing for this. they took every precaution. >> reporter: all the precautions didn't stop there. take this tent for example, when they were done and after the patients left, they actually folded it all in on itself and incinerated it to make sure that nothing inside could get out and infect anyone. there was a very long procedure to cleanup the plane, a lot of

spraying going on, a lot of scrubbing going on to make sure there would be absolutely no lingering problems or threat to anyone who uses this aircraft. ashley? >> david, amazing. thank you. what brave personnel. what brave personnel. thanks for watching everyone. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com good evening, thanks for joining us. major developments on many fronts tonight, beginning with the battle lines of irbil. kerr fi kurtish defenders, f-18s and drones hitting missile targets. american humanitarian aid in the meantime appears to be getting through and judging by this crowd of people very much in demand. both kinds of assistance boosting moral in the region. that said, isis fighters made gains taking control of the mosul dam, the largest and over running a number of