to that end, my colleague wolf blitzer will be up right after this. he's going to be up not only covering with iraq, but also the west bank and gaza as well. another cease-fire. thanks, everyone, for joining us. i'm ashleigh banfield. it's nice to have you with "legal view." we'll see you tomorrow. hello, i'm wolf blitzer reporting from washington. i'd like to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. there is breaking news we're following. a new threat from terrorist militants. a humanitarian nightmare and a growing political power struggle. all those forces now plunging iraq deeper into crisis. here are some of the breaking developments. iraqi prime minister nuri al maliki is refusing to go quietly. in fact, he says he plans to stay in office for a third term. but iraq's president, the new president of iraq, has nominated a new prime minister, a political power struggle under way right now. the u.s. military is assessing the impact of the latest air

strikes against isis militants. a u.s. official telling cnn the strikes have curtailed the movements of an extremist group in northern iraq. overnight, the u.s. military dropped more food and water to thousands of iraqis stranded on mt. sinjar. members of the yazidi minority were trapped after escaping isis militants. but there is a sign of hope. kurdish forces were able to rescue 20,000 yazidis from that mountain. our senior international correspondent ivan watson has just returned, he's just there, in fact, ivan is joining us now from zako, that's near iraq's kurdish region. ivan, a kurdish official warning of po ten tial genocide. what have you learned? >> well, i'm standing on the tarmac of a helicopter landing pad, and we accompanied a helicopter from the iraqi air force and several peshmerga fighters on board on a dangerous

chaotic and, dare i said, heroic mission, to deliver aid to some of those people, those acyazidi who have been trapped on mt. sinjar for the better part of a week and to evacuate some from that mountain. we took off from here on this aging helicopter that was loaded down with baby diapers, with condensed milk, with food and water and, in some cases, even boxes of shoes to give people. and as we flew over the plain in the direction of mt. sinjar and went over the isis positions, the two machine gunners on the side of the aircraft began opening fire on suspected targets below. they told me every time they fly in and out on these missions, they take fire from down below. i saw them go through cartridges and cartridges. entire machine gun belts of ammuniti ammunition.

they got over mt. sinjar. it's this incredible geological formation that comes out over the plane. and there we saw, hiding under some of the trees, some of these desperate people who have been trapped up there for a week, hiding in the shadow of trees, in some cases, there were a couple half-built structures that people were hiding around. and they all started waving to us and waving white flags as we came over. and that's when this chaotic process of trying to throw out assistan assistance, aid, to these people began. the gunners were quite literally hurling diapers and food off the helicopter. at some points at heights of up to 50 feet to the extent that i was worried people would get hurt below. and then we landed on several short occasions. and that's where amid this explosion of dust and chaos, these desperate civilians came

racing towards the helicopter, throwing their children on board the aircraft. the crew was just trying to pull up as many people as possible. a little baby. a redheaded baby. that ended up in my hands. it was chaotic. it was crazy. we were able to then lift off with about 20 civilians. some elderly. some of these people had scratches. had wounds that were clearly getting infected. the people aboard the helicopter burst into tears as were the peshmerga fighters on board trying to help them. the relief was just not everybody was celebrating. a 15-year-old girl there was weeping almost the entire trip home because her father wasn't on board the helicopter. her father got separated from the family. her older brother told me. and was able to call from where he was trapped in a house on his cell phone for two days and then

his line went down. so she was crying, this 15-year-old girl, where's my father, for much of the flight back home. to protect this precious cargo as we went over the front likes yet again on the way back, and it's more than a half hour flight, the machine gunners opened up again, blasting at targets down below. this was understandably terrifying for the people on board the helicopter. the kids were crying. the women were screaming. they were crying. but this is the only defense that the helicopter has from the isis militants down below who could be taking fire at them. and then at sunset this helicopter landed here. it's one of several flights that have taken off throughout the date today. the iraqi air force crews, the peshmerga with them, are heroes. they are saving the lives of people trapped on that mountain for seven days. people telling us they didn't have access to food or water for

days. they're terrified and traumatized. i think you're starting to see some of the footage we saw up there. wolf, i've been doing this job for more than ten years. i have never seen a situation as desperate as this, as emotionally charged as this. and i've never seen a rescue effort as ad hoc and as improvised as this. i think we were all crying on our flight back from there. and i can say that these men were able to save about 60 people today, but there's still the kurdish commander says tens of thousands of people still trapped on that mountain. about 45 minutes flight from where i am right now. wolf. >> it's an amazing journey, ivan. obviously, we're showing viewers video now of people coming aboard the helicopter. we see those little children. we see you there. they're struggling to get out of that situation. you said about 20 people managed

to get on to your helicopter. thery a few other helicopters. when you think about the tens of thousands who may be in danger right now, the food that you drop, the lives that you save, clearly important. what about the american food and water and medicine? the pallets that are being dropped from the u.s. military, do you see any evidence it's reaching the folks there? >> you know, we were only -- i think over the mountain for about ten minutes. in that time, we couldn't see a lot. we weren't able to get out of the helicopter. there was no organization on the ground to usher in the sickest, the most vulnerable people to the helicopter. so it was very chaotic. there was the danger quite literally that too many people would swarm the aircraft. in fact, i saw -- this was unpleasant to see, one old man was actually kind of kicked away as the helicopter had to take

off. because it had -- i'm told seats about 15, and there were for more than that aboard the helicopter. there were a cluster of shacks at one point on the mountain. and i did see that there was barbed wire protecting some kind of a crude perimeter around this cluster of shacks. a few barriers as well. i saw one kurdish fighter with a kalashnikov. i didn't see much of an armed presence there at all. the conditions there look pretty grim. i mean, there were people sitting under the shade of trees who kind of came out. i saw somebody laying in the back of a truck who may have been dead or very, very ill. and i saw another woman being moved in -- or an old man in a wheel barrel. we have to remember, these people have been up there for seven days after they fled the isis militants. the kurds have organized the land corridor on occasion to

syria. we're told they managed to evacuate by land about 6,000 families. they have to make a 15 kilometer, that's like a 10-mile walk, to syria, and they get shelled periodically on that walk. the most young, the most elderly, those who are wounded, clearly can't make that journey. and it is incredible to think that a week into this crisis, you're still having this kind of ad hoc evacuation process. where a couple of rickety iraq air force helicopters are blowing in, picking up a handful of people in these chaotic circumstances and taking off and doing it again and risking enemy gunfire while making that journey. it's kind of incredible to think in this day and age that that is one of the only ways you can evacuate civilians from this place. and that's why the kurdish commander on the ground here is making an appeal to the international community to apply international law to stop what

he described as the genocide being committed against the yazidi religious minority here in northern iraq, wolf. >> were the people that you rescued on your helicopter, you and the kurdish peshmerga forces, the iraqi military who all risked their lives to go in there, were they all yazidis or were some of them kurds, some of them shiites? what do we know about the people who were saved, the 20 or so people on your helicopter? >> i'm told that most of these people are from the yazidi religious group, wolf. i didn't have time to ask people what faith they cape from on board the helicopter. i cannot stress this enough, totally traumatized. these people were weeping. there were little kids crying on this helicopter. there was not a dry eye on the aircraft. these people had been trapped there for seven days. now, i spoke to the older brother of this 15-year-old girl

azizy who was crying the whole flight because her father got lost as they fled the isis militants. her brother described really chilling circumstances. he said that the isis fighters were stopping vehicles loaded with basically refugees and pulling people off of those tractors pulling wagons, pulling the families out and putting them into two buildings. one was a wedding hall and one was some building you'd to store water, and keeping them in there under guard and they were locked up in there. he says his family narrowly escaped getting grabbed. they had to run and hide in a sewer to escape the isis militants. he said the fewers -- i asked him what nationality they were. he said they were ethnic arabs. they were arabs from the area. that's what he described them as. not the foreign fighters, the jihadis who had come in, but likely people from neighboring

communities that these people have lived next to for generations. and that's chilling because what seems to be taking place here across northern iraq is ethnic and sectarian cleansing. everybody i've talked to who fled, and thes matt s a estimat hundreds of thousands, come from the ethnic minorities. accusing isis of ethnic and sectarian cleansing here in northern iraq. >> hard to believe in this day and age these kinds of atrocities can happen and the word "genocide" is coming back. ivan, i know it was a very courageous move on your part to go on this helicopter. you're going to stay with us. don't go too far away. we're showing our viewers some of the dramatic video you and your team shot on this helicopter. you went in there to save lives, to provide some food to some desperate people, potential genocide in the making right now. we'll stay with the breaking

news and we'll resume right after this. captain obvious: i probably wouldn't stay here tonight. man: thanks, captain obvious. captain obvious: i'd get a deal for tonight with deals for tonight from hotels.com. and you might want to get that pipe fixed.

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♪ a bold and very risky rescue operation. our ivan watson is on the scene for us. he's near the kurdish area where so many, tens of thousands of iraqis, minorities, they're in danger right now. you just came back. we showed viewers dramatic video you shot while on this iraqi military helicopter. per h peshmerga fighters were with you, you went into this area

where yazidis are being. we've seen helicopters. some food and other supplies dropped. people running to try to get some of this badly needed food. but then they make a run to try to get on the helicopter. pick up the story, ivan. what happened? i can only assume. i know about 20 civilians got on the helicopter. we see you're helping some of the young kids whose parents just sent them on that helico helicopt helicopter. i assume everybody wanted to get on that helicopter. that's a very dangerous situation. >> it was dangerous. it was chaotic. the choppers are shooting their way in to mt. sinjar. they're firing at what they think are isis targets as they cross the front lines. as they make this journey to the mountain. and then there's no structure on the ground. there's not a landing area

that's been delineated. and so basically the chopper just flies in circles and the crew hurl the emergency aid from heights sometimes of 50 feet. as i mentioned before, to the extend i was worried people would get hurt by these boxes of kind condensed milk and these water bottles that we were kind of throwing down to the people below who were running around desperately waving to the helicopter. i was surprised the first time we landed, the crew was trying to call people to the helicopter. they were trying to evacuate people. some of the people were saying no, no, no, they didn't want to leave. we did another circle and landed again. at that point, people did start coming forward. and it was this chaotic scrum of just civilians piling on from both sides of the helicopter. and it was all hands on deck.

and sadly, it was also first come, first serve. so of course people are throwing their children in. and this was just a terrifying experience for those kids. and for those families. people would have already been through an ordeal that i can hardly imagine. because they have all picked up and fled their homes in a matter of hours under isis militant guns and had to flee up to a mountain in the 21st century and take shelter up there. for seven days. one man i talked to said he only ate one cookie for about three days. he had no access to food. he had some water. so the deliveries that were being made were important. some of the things being dropped to these people were baby's diapers and milk. there are a lot of children over there. we could see as we circled sinjar mountain, which kind of rises up, it's probably i don't know several miles long. it's a remarkable geological

formation that rises up out of the flat plain here. you could see clusters of more than 100 parked cars. i don't know if that was part of the convey of people fleeing their hometown when isis conquered it. parked in ravines and gullies that lead into the mountain. so that gives you a sense of the exodus of people who fled up to this place. and what was really sad was after we got the civilians on board the helicopter, on the flight out, and the civilians were -- these people were crying. they were overwhelmed. they were traumatized. then the machine gunners opened fire as we flew back out. they flew in shooting. they flew out shooting. because they're flying over isis front lines. this is the way that they can most easily reach these people. so it is a dangerous trip. they're taking immense riskrisk. and the only protection this

aircraft had were two twin machine guns opening up on the plains below. which of course made these children, these people terrified. after the ordeal that they've been through. but i can say that these people landed here. their ordeal is not over, wolf. these people have fled their hopes. their lives have been uprooted. all around this area where i am here in iraqi kurdistan, you see these kind of impromptu tent cities coming up. they're not even tents. people just putting blankets up and living on the roadside. it's likely some of these people that got evacuated got off a mountain and now they may be living under a sheet tonight on the side of the road. >> some of the parents, they just told their children and threw their kids on that helicopter, the parents stayed behind and the kids were rescued? did you see that? >> i saw one elderly man who -- it was a disturbing sight, was

kicked off. there were too many people on the helicopter. and there was a little girl who i just couldn't take my eyes off the whole flight back. she was 15 years old. her name was azizy. we were trying to calmer down on the helicopter flight back but she wasn't going to stop crying because she kept saying, where's my father, where's my father. and as her older brother explained it to me, her father was separated from the rest of the family as they flew sinjar and fled the isis offensive. the brother described in detail how the father was separated. and ended up trapped in a house. while the rest of the family had to hide in a sewage pipe it sounds like before they were eventually able to make it up to the mountain. the father was able to call the family on his cell phone for two days before the line went dead. so they have no idea where their father is. three kids and their moth ver made it here to safety.

but it is not a celebration they're experiencing tonight, wolf. >> yes, i'm sure. ivan, you're going to be with us. we're going to get more of the video, the dramatic video you shot on this heroic helicopter mission to save people, to get them some badly needed supplies. we know the u.s. is dropping supplies as well. as far as we know, the u.s. is not sending in forces to actually rescue people out of that mt. sinjar area. stand by with us. we're going to get some u.s. reaction. jim acosta is going to be joining us. he's with the president at martha's vineyard. much more of our special coverage after this. [ man ] look how beautiful it is. ♪ honey, we need to talk. we do? i took the trash out. i know. and thank you so much for that. i think we should get a medicare supplement insurance plan. right now? [ male announcer ] whether you're new to medicare or not,

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heroic rescue mission. our ivan watson was on this iraqi military helicopter with peshmerga kurdish fighters as they flew into this dangerous region where literally thousands of minorities, iraqi yazidis, kurds and others, are stranded. they are fearing genocide by these isis terrorists who have surrounded the area. they are without food, without water, without medicine, without supplies. the iraqi military flew this helicopter. they had limited amount of supplies. they dropped what they could. even as they were firing their

machine guns on the side of this helicopter going in as they came in under fire. ivan watson was on board. and they managed to get there in the process. they brought back about 20, 20 civilians who managed to get on board that helicopter. thousands of them remain behind. there were two or three iraqi military helicopters that did the same thing. then they flew about half an hour back to zako, not far from this region where ivan has been reporting for us. it's a dramatic and very, very powerful moment as the kurdish officials are warning that these isis terrorists want to do nothing short of committing genocide against these iraqi minorities. let's go to our white house correspondent jim acosta. jim, this is so dramatic. we know the president has authorized u.s. air drops of humanitarian supplies to these stranded people. we know the u.s. -- the president has authorized limited

air strikes against various isis targets. artillery. as far as we know, the u.s. has not authorized what the iraqi military is now doing in very, very basic, crude, limited fashion, going in there and trying to actually rescue people and get them out, right? >> that's right, wolf, that is not part of the mission at this point. it's not what the president has authorized. but i think ivan watson's reporting that brave effort that those iraqis undertook to rescue those people. i think it demonstrates what the administration has been saying, what the president has been saying over the last several days, that the key catalyst for the u.s. to take this action in northern iraq was this very big humanitarian crisis in the sinjar mountains with respect to those yazidis. you've heard various administration officials saying that humanitarian, near genocide situation up there, is really what sparked the president's interest in larging these air strikes and launching this hue man tarn aid mission.

we know the president has been getting regular updates from his national security team, his national security adviser susan rice is with him, the deputy national security adviser is with him at martha's vineyard. the president is at the beach right now with the first family but earlier this morning helping made phone calls to the italian prime minister, the president of ukraine, poroshenko, so president not only keeping up to speed what's happening in iraq but these other foreign crises, what's happening in ukraine right now. vice president biden has been making important phone calls help called the new iraqi president and the new iraqi prime minister-designate earlier this morning. why is that important? wolf, for the last several hours, the administration it making it all too clear they're using everything but a bright neon sign to say to the current prime minister, al maliki, it is time to go. they're basically showing maliki the door. without saying it explicitly. the vice president saying in his phone call with the new iraqi

prime minister-designate that he should quickly form a unity government, a cabinet, the united states will respond with more aid, more supplies, more assistant. that is what the iraqis want at this point. that's the conditions the press has set for the u.s. being involved in this mission in northern iraq. >> any indication we'll hear from the president today, see him? >> we won't see him today, but he does have a fund-raiser here at martha's vineyard later on this evening. a democratic party fund-raiser obviously. at that point, we will hear i guess watt president has to say through print pool reporters who will go in. we'll get a transcript of what he has to say. we'll all listen to see whether or not he respon, to the criticism he got from hillary clinton over the weekend in the atlantic magazine article. typically what happens with

these fouund-raisers, they're typically there to really get the democratic grassroots geared up for these midterm elections. he'll tip off typically what those audiences want to hear. not so much on the foreign policy end, but we'll wait and see. there's a big challenge for this president now while he's on vacation in more that's vineyard. >> we'll stay in close touch with you. i want to go to barbara starr, our pentagon correspondent, right now. update our viewers on what the u.s. military has done so far today. as far as air strikes are concerned and as far as humanitarian air drops of food and water are concerned. >> well, wolf, they're continuing with both tracks. both air strikes again isis positions and also the food drops. you know, you look at these pictures that ivan watson has brought the world and you come to understand genocide is not a word. this is the face. ivan watson is bringing you the face of genocide unfolding on that mountain top in iraq.

and the pentagon knows this full well. in fact, behind the scenes, you know, they're already looking at what more they could possibly do. the president on saturday sort of in an almost aside before he left the white house talked about an international effort to get these people off this mountain. but there's some very critical things in this video that tell us all what the military's situation is. the fact that this helicopter with the peshmerga fighters had to shoot its way on to the mountain, grab these 20 people and shoot its way off this mountain tells you so much that isis is not down and out. isis still, despite the u.s. air strikes, despite 24-hour combat air patrol over this portion of iraq, isis still posing a genocidal threat to these people. we know u.s. drones are flying over the mountain 24/7 to keep

an eye on isis. i have no idea where they were when isis was able to fire at this helicopter on its way in and out. the air strikes continue. there have been air strikes against a small number of isis positions on sinjar mountain. the u.s. seems to think they have at least stalled isis in place, both on the mountain and down in erbil. but these pictures clearly show us isis, again, far from stalled, far from down and out. one of the things that is also happening, because the peshmerga kurdish fighters now are the front line of defense for these pea, the u.s. is trying to facilitate increased shipment of arms and ammunition to the peshmerga. there were from the iraqi, there were three shipments of ammunition to the peshmerga, emergency shipments since thursday. but these people are going to need more -- so much more than that. they're going to need more arms, more ammunition.

the president making clear any effort for a sort of humanitarian corridor to get everybody off the mountain is going to have to be an international effort. if the president sticks with no u.s. boots on the ground to do that, there will at least have to be a massive air combat patrol over this mountain to keep the isis fighters at bay, keep them away from any vehicles, any helicopters, that might try and come in and rescue these people. but you cannot make this go away with one helicopter lifting 20 desperate people off the mountain at a time. these pictures from ivan really show the world what is happening. >> do we know today, because we know there were some operations over the weekend. do we know today barbara, how many air strikes, how many 500-pound laser-guided bombs or predator missiles were launched from drones? do we know how many strikes there were? >> we don't have a final count for the day. i think, given the time

difference, there were some initial strikes at these targets. given the time difference before our day is up, here on the east coast of the united states of course, we are likely to see more air strikes and certainly we hope more humanitarian drops. just to point out, there are reports that the british had been trying to drop supplies, but as they come close to these drop zones, they're running into the same issue. they see so many people rushing from this area on the mountain to try and get to where they think supplies are going to be air dropped to them, that they've had to abort some missions. this is very dangerous business. when there are things like, you know, earthquakes and tsunamis, there is a structure. things are set up. everybody knows where the drop zone is. it drops. everybody stays away until the supplies can be retrieved and distributed. these people are so desperate. they have nothing. they've been on this mountain without food and waters for days

now in the blistering heat. they are just running to get anything they can that is air dropped. it is so dangerous. the helicopters of course can fly lower. and basically hurl the supplies out at maybe 50 feet. but the transport aircraft from the u.s., from britain, they fly at -- they have to, they fly at thousands of feet up in the air. and they drop by parachute. that means that is heavy, heavy pallets of material falling to the ground. they don't want anybody hurt. but these people, they don't even have water to drink on a regular basis at this point. the heat is blistering. you see the desperation. you see the absolute tragedy and turmoil unfolding. i just come back to the notion, genocide isn't a word. this is an unfolding genocide in front of all of our eyes, wolf. >> what a horrific situation it is, barbara starr will continue to update us on the latest from the pentagon. these are dramatic pictures that we're showing our viewers. just back, ivan watson was there

with an iraqi military helicopter, kurdish peshmerga fighters. there are literally thousands of people, many minorities, the yazidis, other kurds who are just stranded there. the u.s. dropping food and water. large launching some air strikes against isis targets below this mountain. it's a desperate, desperate situation. when we come back, i'll speak live to the director of intelligence for the kurdistan regional government about the shocking situation. the new video just coming in. lots more on the breaking news right after this. your 16-year-old daughter

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our global affairs correspondent is joining us now. gloria borger here as well. elise, what are you learning? >> basically, wolf, you see how the iraqi kurds, so underresourced, these rickety helicopters, their light ammunition, really hurting for resources in terms of helping these yazidis get off the mountain. officials are telling myself and pentagon correspondent barbara starr the u.s. is trying to help the kurds directly through the cia. right now it's a small program but there is a wider discussion about how they cap hen help the kurds most fully. as you know, the u.s. goes through the central government in baghdad to give the entire iraqi military support but now the iraqi military is helping them out -- >> let's be preside. is the cia providing arms directly to the kurdish peshmerga fighters?

>> that's our understanding, on a very limited scale. >> i want to bring in the chance lore of the kurdistan region security counsel, the son of the regional president marsud basani. what can you tell us? have you heard the cia is providing the peshmerga fighters directly weapons? >> thanks for having me. unfortunately, the help came a little too late. now there has been some shipments of supplies, of mostly ammunition, to the peshmergas. but if there had been support, military support to the kurds, most of what we see happening now could have been prevented. >> because the peshmerga are wonderful, very heroic fighters. i know you've been appealing to the united states and other international powers for a long time. what was the reason why they gave you, why they wouldn't help

you directly? i know they often -- supposed to go through the central government in baghdad but we know that nuri al maliki's regime there was no great friend of the peshmerga or the kurds, so what was the excuse the u.s. gave you for delaying providing direct weaponry to your fighters in the midst of this horrible situation? >> well, no one wanted to really deal with the kurdish forces directly. everything had to go through baghdad. unfortunately, baghdad was not supportive of arming person mega at the time. unfortunate', most of the arms given to the iraqi military later on were left on the posts and were seized by the isis which later on they used against our peshmergas. >> when you say, mr. barsani, it's too late, tell me what's the situation on the ground right now as far as the kurds are concerned, the yazidis, other minorities, shiites. how strong is isis now?

what needs to be done to change that? >> in terps of telling you it's too late, i mean, it could have been -- what we see could have been prevented if the peshmergas were well armed. right now, peshmergas are outgunned by the isis. isis has in its possession most of the arms that were left at the posts in both iraqi military divisions and brigades, that left their posts and also from syria. so isis now really has armaments that are much stronger, much more powerful, much more powerful firepower than the per, megas. if the peshmergas could have this weapon, they could have defeated isis before they could commit this against them elsewhere in the country.

>> we know there are hundreds of thousands of minorities endangered right now. do you really believe, mr mr. barzani, the christian, the yazidis, so many other minority groups, nonmuslims, are in danger now of genocide? >> absolutely. what you see today is an act of genocide on -- being unfolded in front of the world. and unfortunately, tens of thousands of people have fled to mt. sinjar and people on the mountain and around the mountain are still supple to grebject to danger. thanks to the united states and the air drop aid, there has been a corridor open to these people to escape to safety. unfortunately, the process is slow. we also have deployed peshmerga units. there were some peshmerga units left with the people already that prevented isis from advancing into the mountains to commit massacres in that area.

but at this time, there is ongoing process of rescuing these people on the mountain and so far thousands of families have been rescued. >> one final question, mr mr. barzani, before i let you go, tell us what you want president to do right now to help this situation. >> i hope -- well, we are thankful, we are all grateful to the brave decision president obama made in terms of supporting peshmerga with the air strike. we hope this air strike will continue. and the cycle of strikes against isis targets will be expanded to the areas where the bases of isis are locate and not necessarily only at the line of battle between isis and the peshmerga. so we hope that the area of operation is going to be expanded and this will be an ongoing process. >> and what kind of weapons do you want from the united states? >> well, weapons that are

effective against all this armed vehicles that have been seized by the isis. they, by far, have, you know, an upper hand and they were outgunning the peshmergas so any effective weapon that can defeat the enemy will be appreciated and needed for the peshmergas. >> one final question, any help you're getting, substantial help from the iraqi central government in baghdad yet? we saw one, ivan watson was on board with peshmerga fighters. that seemed to be a little bit encouraging to me there was some cooperation between the iraqi military and the peshmerga, the kurdish fighters. what's the latest on that front? >> yes, there is cooperation, but unfortunately, the capabilities of the iraqi army are limited. there are a few helicopters that are here to help, you know, with

the refugees and the mountain to bring aid to them and also in the battle to help the peshmerga in several areas. unfortunately, the level of cooperation or the ability of the iraqi military is limited. we hope this will continue and will expand. >> barzani, for the kurdish regional government. thank you so much for joining us. we will stay in very close touch with you. good luck to all the people of kurdistan. good luck to all the people in northern iraq right now. so many of the christians, the yazidis, the kurds, other groups in northern iraq, they face potentially, according to this kurdish official, genocide at the hands of these isis tear ritz. the breaking news will continue right here on cnn right after this.

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this is cnn breaking news. we're following the breaking news. an historic rescue effort. they continue, the yezidis, christians, kurds, shiites, other minorities in iraq, northern iraq, are being rescued right now. the kurdish regional government accusing the isis terrorists of engaging in genocide against so many of these people. if you don't convert to their brand of islam, you will be killed. that is the word from these isis terrorists. just a little while ago, our correspondent, ivan watson, and our photo journalist, mark phillips, they were on board a helicopter with peshmerga into a dangerous area. i want you to see what was going on as they flew over the iraqi

military, firing machine guns as they were going in. they then dropped some food, other supplies and brought back with them about 20 civilians, including some young kids who managed to get on this helicopter and were flown to safety. watch this.

what a scene. the whole world is watching this video, thanks to ivan watson and mark phillips, photo journalist. this is going to put enormous

pressure, not only on the united states, gloria, but on the world to do something about this. because tens of thousands of people right now, including christians, yezidis, others, are in danger of being killed, slaughtered by these isis terrorists. >> i mean, you're an eyewitness now to what this kurdish official was warning about. i mean, we can now see it for ourselves. and the question now is what can the rest of the world do? not only with humanitarian drops, but the question is what is the president also willing to do, either alone or with allies about some kind of air cover for these people, as they try and rescue folks. and what -- you know, up to -- where is the president's line here in -- we know what he won't do. you know, we know he went put boots on the ground. we know he doesn't want to get into a protracted military situation. we know he will do humanitarian drop. what we don't know is what he will affirmatively do, particularly now that the world is seeing these pictures. >> and the way this kurdish

official we just spoke to, basur barzani, head of the regional government, said the cia is providing ammunition, but it's too late to save the lives of these people. it sounded almost like a drop in the bucket not much going on, the u.s. still reluctant to give heavy armor weapons that could go after these isis terrorists. >> i think this situation with the yezidis really took them by surprise, wolf. you know the president has been waiting for an iraqi government to get formed for a new prime minister. and then they were hoping then they will be able to support that government. so when this situation with the yezidis on this mountain came, the president had to make the kind of swift, decisive action that is really not a hallmark of this administration. and take these u.s. air strikes and do those air drops. but now that the president has come out and said i will on behalf of the united states take action to prevent genocide, as we have been discussing, this one rinky dinky helicopter that took those 20 people off that mountain is not going to be enough. and it's not just the united

states here. it's really going to be i think an international effort that's going to have to really -- >> any progress at getting rid of nouri al maliki in baghdad? >> well, today you saw the iraqi new president appoint a new prime minister designate, which has the support of this large shia block, prime minister nouri al maliki's block. the question is, is he going to go quietly? it looks like he will not. >> hold on, gloria. there's a limit to what the u.s. can do. if no boots on the ground, no grouped forces, there is a limit with what you can do with air power alone. thanks very much. we're going to continue to watch the breaking news. that's it for me this hour. i'll be back 5:00 p.m. eastern, a special two-your edition of "the situation room." for our international viewers, "amanpour" is next, for our american viewers, brooke baldwin starts after a quick break. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points

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this is cnn breaking news. >> you're watching cnn. i'm brooke baldwin. we begin with breaking news, just absolutely stunning video here from iraq's mt. sinjar. we have been talking about this location for the past couple days. finally, we see these women, the elderly, the children, these yazidi refugees who have been stuck on top of the scorching hot mountain. they have now been rescued from this humanitarian nightmare during a daring mission by iraqi and kurdish forces. the and