hello and welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. great to have you with us. i'm john vause. >> nice to be with you. hello, everyone, i'm natalie allen. high stakes conference about how to stop isis. we'll take you live to paris for that. >> a hurricane slams into mexico's most popular tourist destinations and a reporter is right in the middle of the storm. later, queen elizabeth weighs in on the scottish referendum with only days to go

before the crucial independence vote. >> the queen actually didn't say a whole lot. she just said be careful -- very unusual for her to say that. just think very carefully but that in itself was significant. we will begin in paris where an international conference is set to begin at this hour. at issue, how to tackle isis in iraq and syria. u.s. secretary of state john kerry says almost 40 countries have agreed to join a coalition to destroy the militant group. >> the conference in paris comes just days after isis took another innocent life as you know british aid worker david haines. he is the third westerner known to have been beheaded by the militant group in recent weeks. >> more now from atika live outside 10 downing street in lon don't and the british prime minister failed to hunt down those who killed him but seems people are still in shock this happened for a third time.

>> they are, and it's more shocking not only the victim but the apparent killer seems to be british. now, the family of david haines spoke out yesterday and they said this is not about religion, this is not about the muslim faith. and they said their brother was happiest when he was doing aid work and, of course, he was in syria to help refugees. he was working with the french ngo acted and this his family says is when he was at his best. take a listen to what his brother, mike haines had to say. >> if i said he was a saint i would be a liar. he's made many mistakes like us all. he tried to be a better man. he tried to account for his mistakes in previous life through good work.

>> now the pressure is increasing on the british government because, of course, we know there is a second british hostage that appeared at the end of that video, alan henning, also an aid worker. and helping those in syria so a lot of pressure now on the british public to do something to try and save this next hostage and try and find out who is carrying out these killings. >> yeah. the propaganda that is being put out by isis, does there come a point when these images start harming their own interests. >> reporter: well, it's at a point now where we've seen three of these videos come out, and i was actually speaking to a terror analyst about this saying, you know, where does this end and when does it hurt isis? and he said some very interesting things, that there is a very good reason why isis continues to show the exact same format in each of these videos. take a listen.

it is now a recurring nightmare, the same orange robes, the hostage on his knee as his masked killer stands beside him and always the same, a man with a british accent, a knife in his left hand that he uses later to behead his victim. we asked peter pneumonnewmapne did it this way. >> establish a routine where people are having an expectation that this will continue and there will be another execution perhaps in two weeks' time because the previous ones have also been every fortnight. >> creating a terrible sense of dread. isis has already threatened to kill a fourth hostage, another british citizen. the group is believed to be holding a number of other foreign aid workers and journalists. >> isis looks at this as a low-cost strategy. they're seeing that in order to

capture the world's attention and recruit people they no longer need to bring down towers in new york and hit the pentagon. they can take one of their hostages to the desert, behead him with no risk to themselves and still have the same effect. >> reporter: a recurring nightmare that shows no signs of ending. now, the more of these videos that come out the more terror and the more of that dread is spread around the world and the more pressure is put on governments like the british government to take action and this is the big question now. will britain put in more military forces? it's already contributed jets to gather intelligence on isis, but will there be boots on the ground and perhaps more importantly will there be air strikes in syria? this is what they're discussing at the paris conference today. >> a lot to get through. atika, thank you, live for us in london. thanks. let's turn to that conference now, the killing of a third western captured has

raised the resolve to resolve this and arab countries have also joined the coalition. francois hollande has hosted this and we expect opening remarks and frederik pleitgen is covering this for us live in paris with more. fred. >> reporter: hi, natalie. basically what this is going to be about four of these countries that are going to be a part of the fight against isis are going to specify exactly what they're able to do. the french president said some of these will try to dry up the financial support for isis, other countries are going to provide humanitarian aid to people who have been displaced, of course, with isis taking a lot of territory both in iraq and in syria and other countries that are going to contribute to all of this militarily. of course, the u.s. has been conducting air strikes, so far the brits have said they don't want to be a part of air strikes. will that change with the murder

of david haines? and then you have the french who have been hawkish about all this. one of the things is them hosting this conference but they also said they are going to start spy flights, intelligence flights over iraqi territory probably sometime today. the french defense minister he is in the united arab emirates where france has a base and that's where the announcement was made. unwilling to say whether they're going to participant in air strikes. wait to see if they want a u.n. mandate for that. the big question is, natalie, what are countries in the middle east going to do and apparently the u.s. has gotten some countries who say they are willing to also be a part of air strikes, certainly be a part of some sort of military campaign, unclear, however, if any of those countries are willing to put boots on the ground, natalie. >> that is a big question because isn't it correct to say that the u.s. is concerned that this does not look like an american war.

>> exactly, it's not supposed to look like the wars of the past like the iraq where where the americans are taking the lead. the u.s. does want to be in the lead, however, they do want a lot of countries especially from that region to participant in all of this to make sure it looks like an effort from middle eastern countries especially from countries with a sunni majority and so, therefore, saudi arabia is going to have a very big role in all of this at least that's what the united states wants, the saudis have already said they are willing to let the u.s. use some of the bases on its territory to train moderate syrian rebels and also countries like egypt could may a very large role, of course, secretary kerry was in egypt just a couple of days ago trying to drum up support there. egypt is a very, very important country because a lot of the weapons that go into that region come from libya through egypt so there are a lot of issues there, as well. now, the u.s. has hinted that some countries say they're willing to participate more as i said. some have hinted that they're

willing to be a part of air strike, as well. that is something that would be very, very important but you're right, the united states doesn't want to say it's doing all the lifting. this would be very bad as the country trying to take out isis, they believe it needs to be an from the countries in that region to make sure this has broad base support especially among the population down there in iraq and syria. it is, of course, very much a sunni majority area and so they want the sunni majority countries to really be a big part of the effort to oust isis there. natalie. >> right, franks, fred pleitgen and secretary kerry making that point soon in this meeting. we saw him arriving walking up the steps there for the meeting and other leaders are arriving there, as well. we'll take you back to paris live as soon as this anti-isis conference gets under way. the presidents of france and

iraq expected to speak at the bottom of the hour. >> they do have a strategy for iraq, not necessarily a strategy for syria. and that will be on the table. this is just about iraq and isis so a lot to be dealt with. >> syria, of course, not invited to take part in this. >> absolutely. >> we'll take a short break. boarding up and taking cover as a ferocious hurricane batters one of mexico's most popular tourist destinations. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ great rates for great rides. geico motorcycle, see how much you could save.

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now arriving for these meetings is hollanp ande on the right. they will be making some opening remarks, as well as this meeting gets under way and we will take you back to paris when they step to the lecterns and address the world. >> it is largely ceremonial but has made comments saying it is a shame that iran is not taking part. he has also said it's not necessary for countries like egypt and jordan to take part in air strikes. it's important for the planning but not necessarily part of the military operations so a lot for them to get through and a lot of countries have definite views as to what should be achieved in the coming hours. okay, we will move on now to another story which we are following here.

ferocious wind, heavy rain as odile slams into the southern tip of the baja peninsula. the strong category 3 storm knocked out power to most if not all of the resorts, including cabo sanlu lucas. >> pedram javaheri joins us. they're experiencing it right now. >> very exposed on the southern part of the peninsula. >> yeah, the peninsula is only about 70 mile as cross so the southern tip of it is so the landmark very small for a storm system to make direct impact on and back in 1976 we had quite a strong storm that impacted this region that we'll touch on momentarily but as this storm came to shore in the last two hours wave heights some 39 feet or 12 meters across this area. now, on the immediate coast there is a town near the airport if you've flown into cabo san jose 30 miles away before you

take that ride into cabo. that town seeing the brunt of the wave heights but typically take that 39-foot wave high and factor a 3, about 13-foot wave heights on the coastline. norbert about two weeks ago and odile making landfall in the last couple of hours, the strongest to make landfall across portions of baja. based on the wind speeds the strongest was liza back in 1976, 140-mile-per-hour wind, here's odile in the last couple of hours coming in as the second strongest unofficially as the data begins to come in and tabulate the numbers once the national weather service verifies everything that transpired here. certainly shows you among the strongest we've seen impact this region and coming ashore during a busy time of year across mexico and the later few days before autumn arrives in the northern hemisphere. winds, 120 miles per hour at this hour, a category 3, just about four or so miles an hour

of its peak when it made landfall and at this hour it is moving in towards la paz, prominent area north of cabo. second highest population is there in la paz, very popular beach there. on the immediate coast this is what it looks like in spots, john and natalie were talking about just ten meters away or about 30 feet away from the water of some of these beaches, resorts sit and you take a look. even this time tomorrow, this storm could still be a category 2 just because it kind of rides that narrow strip of land known as the baja interacting with water and land so weakening going to be gradual. once you remove yourself from the southern tip the population drops but people are less prepared and less fortunate, as well so it makes it that much more destructive into the overnight hours. >> that is the view from the

international weather sinter. what's happening right now in cabo and la paz riding out this hurricane. nick, last time we spoke you were hunkering down in a ballroom. what's the latest? >> reporter: that's right, john. at this stage from where we are now in cabo san lucas it seems the worst is more or less over. there's still a fairly strong howling wind outside but it seems to lack some of the real ferocity it was displaying earlier when it shattered a massive ten foot by ten-foot window which alarmed the security and guests in this hotel. the guests have as you say been spending most of the evening in a ballroom or banquet hall and at this stage it seems it's not as tense as it was earlier and many are now bedding down on some lounges and sofa cushions that have been thrown on the floor to make makeshift beds.

there is no electricity in any of the rooms so for now we're being kept in these common areas. and another u.s. tourist wrote to cnn in a hotel in another part of town. sara mckinney is staying in a nearby hotel. she sent pictures of her situation and i think we have those that we can show you. she's had to put a mattress in front of the door of her bedroom to prevent the water from coming in and it's taken refugee for the night in the bathroom with her baby daughter and some bedding so certainly some pretty precarious scenes here for a number of tourist. >> absolutely. we shall leave it there. we need to go back to paris. we appreciate that, nick parker. back to paris where president hollande and his counterpart are about to speak.

opening statements coming ahead of this international conference dealing with the growing threat of isis. there's a lot of representatives from around the world, of course, john kerry, the u.s. secretary of state has been the driving force behind all this and been in the region for a number of days trying to build the coalition. 40 countries have signed on but what those countries will be doing, will they be involved in the humanitarian issues and the big question, what the arab countries in the region who face the biggest threat will contribute. let's listen in. >> translator: your presence here at our side expresses the sense of the initiative that we ourselves have started. we wish that takes place here with you in paris a conference on peace and security in iraq and against terrorism.

i thank all the countries who are here present today, almost 30 countries, i also welcome the european union, the arab league, the special representative of the united nations because it is the international community that is here present in paris for iraq. this conference has one objective, to provide to the new authorities in iraq the political support that is necessary for it to fight against dash or i.s. which affects iraq and the middle east and the world, a major risk and

the assassination of david haines is a terrifying illustration if we needed one. this terrorist group has not only decapitated journalists but has perpetrated massacres, killings against the civilian population. this terrorist movement has attacked the weakest men, women, children, this terrorist movement has also attacked religious minorityies to eliminate certain number of communities. this terrorist movement has deployed over a whole territory in iraq, in syria.

this terrorist movement pretends founding a state, such as the threat it is a global one and there must be a global response. this response must come from the iraqi people themselves and that is why i welcome the sense of the new authorities in iraq who have been able to start a dialogue to form a national government of unity under the prime minister mr. abadi respecting all the various components of the iraqi people and to ensure its unity and sovereignty. it was a vital condition to establish trust and to ensure a gathering of the people.

the unity is also necessary at the international level. the security council in its resolution 2170 stated that -- or i.s. stated an event threat for the world's security, the fight of the iraqi people against terrorism is also our own fight and we must commit ourselves together and it is the meaninging of this conference at the site of the iraqi authorities clearly loyally and strong strongly and there is no time to lose. this help must be first and foremost humanitarian, almost 2 million people have been displaced and i myself saw on friday at irbil the distress of

those who've had to give up everything due to the advance of the terrorists. for these families, for the women and children, we must make a special effort, we must put in place humanitarian bridges and strengthen the remarkable efforts of the united nations on the field but it is important to be efficient, effective and that is the meaning of this conference to obtain the funds of the countries in the region to welcome to provide food and to welcome the most threatened population. iraq also needs military supp t support. the friends of iraq must coordinate their action to

respond to the requirements of the iraqi authorities, france on its side has also provided equipment and communication with europe and the countries that could be associated with this, the u.s. has acted and that is the meaning of the initiative of president obama to create a large coalition to fight dash or i.s. many countries have responded in the region and beyond and france will play its part but the iraqi territory is not the sole territory affected. dash or i.s. has set up in syria and threatenings the whole of the middle east. this terrorist movement also calls upon fighters who have

come from all over the world and each country including my own is affected. we must do everything possible to fight against the indoctrination of our young people, prevent them being recruited to break the jihadist links and prevent dash or i.s. and all those who are linked with it. nearby or far away at this moment the french parliament is discussing a law to ensure to fight against the links and to punish the people responsible. the response to the terrorist threat is finally a political one and the international community must find a solution sustainable solution at the place where this movement was

created in syria. i remind you that for the last three years the crisis in syria has created 200,000 dead. the chaos plays in the house of the terrorists. to ensure the future of syria, it is strength of the opposition forces, they must be supported by all means and once again france will play its part together with the regional partner partners. we want to stop what is happening. finally i would like to during this conference alert the urgent necessity to provide to ensure the sovereignty of lebanon because lebanon welcomes

almost -- has welcomed almost 2 million syrian refugees with saudi arabia, we've decided that france it provide equipment to ensure the security and sovereignty of lebanon. i also know that under the u.n. secretary-general the support group for lebanon coordinates international help for this country. i also think of jordan which must also benefit from the support of the international communi community. that is the agenda for our conference which is to take -- provide all the solidarity that we must provide for iraq, political support for the new authorities to ensure a gathering, humanitarian help to ensure protection and help to

the civilian population and to the refugees, finally, the fight against dash or i.s. terrorist movement which does not exclude any means, it's everyone's concern, by having this conference, the countries that are gathered here today show their solidarity with regards to iraq and i thank them for doing so but they also express their joint desire to protect themselves against terrorism and to act accordingly and that is the reason why i thank you for your attendance which will ensure that this paris conference is an important step for the mobilization of the international community, for iraq and for the new authorities and that is the reason why i welcome once again the

attendance of president masood. thank you very much. [ applause ] [ speaking a foreign language ] >> all right, we are having some audio difficulties, his microphone is very low there. we will get his remarks and get them translated for you as the

president of iraq there speaks but we did hear from president hollande from france outlining the work before the meeting saying this is a global problem and it should have a global response. there are dozens of country there is to decide how they proceed in fighting back isis. let's go again to our cnn's fred pleitgen in paris. he'll be covering this event and they do have some complexities before them, fred in trying to coordinate how they go about getting these regional countries and these western countries together to combat isis. >> translator: which is criminal. >> hang on. >> translator: today we are in the midst of a confrontation in iraq and we are at a juncture in the terrorist thinking -- the terrorists no longer act to

terrorize populations. they commit various crimes in order to establish a state and that is what has happened, in fact, the victims of dash occupation are of all faith, all ethnic groups, all religions. the terrorist organization has killed the elderly women, children and men and wish to set up a state which will be a base to extend to the rest of the middle east and the world. these objectives have been stated in the various speeches and statements of the various dash leaders. they work at this in full view and they do not deny the existence of terrorists,

volunteers from european countries who may or may not have dual citizenship and one of the signs of this change in the nature of terrorist action is that one goes beyond the traditional strategic thinking which we were accustomed to with al qaeda. these criminals are experts in the brainwashing of young people in those regions they control -- prepare them for terrorist actions they use modern technology in order to spread propaganda and terror through the internet and social networks. today we are here, ladies and gentlemen, having managed to bring together a national union government, which all iraqis can relate to whatever their

origins, that is very important. it is a basis for unity of the position of the iraqis who all share the will to stand up against this terrorist enemy which has made no distinction between iraqis. we have come to france, the country of the french revolution based on the respect of human rights. we bring here the message of the orphans of the mothers who have lost their children to appeal to you all here to stand beside our people and to bring back smiles to the faces of the children and the mothers who have lost their families. the crimes committed by dash over the past month are the expression of an obscure blood thirsty thinking which finds its source in the darkness of history and the most detest aab

ideologies based on refusal of all diversity or pluralism and that is how christians have been targeted. the kurds, the iraqi arabs, sunnis and shui items all equally have been targeted. dash's thinking can be stated simply either you are with us or we will kill you and that is how people have been forced to change religion. that is of a criminal nature. thousands of young people, children, thousands of women have been taken as war hostages and that is,000s of my fellow

citizens have had to leave their homes and their villages because the criminals have taken them over. they have been displaced, had to flee to the mountains, the deserts, the caves as was the case for the yazidis and christians trying to save their lives and maintain their right to believe. dash over these past months has perpetrated massacres and crimes, which could be term eed genocide, ethic and purification crimes against thousands of citizens, thousands of families are under the control of dash because they were not able to flee and they must bend to dash's will. and they are judge d by religios tribunals as they are called and

these are crimes against humanitarian. there have been historic sites destroyed, manuscripts, some of which date back to the mess mesopotamia civilizations, worship place, mosques, prayer rooms, churches have been destroyed by dash. this all constitutes a great danger. now, hope lies in swift and radical decisions against this new form of terrorism and all terrorists thinking which is akin to that of dash. i should like here to express our consideration for the results of the conference which was held last week in saudi arabia. we consider that conference was a great step towards the

organization of common efforts to face up to terrorism. we should like to thank the u.n., also, for the part they played, the countries of the european union and other friendly countries including iran, turkey, the kingdom of saudi arabia for everything they have made available in terms of humanitarian aid to displaced encircled citizens and also they help to arm forces, the peshmerga and the popular forces wishing to put an end to dash's work in some regions and to push dash back in other regions. this has been vital. this common humanitarian action leads us all to deploy even more efforts to stand up to terrorism and we are always asking for

airborne operations to be continued regularly against terrorist sites. we must not allow them to set up sanctuaries. we must pursue them wherever they are. we must cut off their financing. we must hem them in with laws and the fighters and we must stop fighters in neighboring countries to join them. we must all contribute to the humanitarian efforts to help the refugees, the displaced persons who are undergoing a true tragedy. we must adopt plans allowing the displaced people to return to their homes. we must rebuild the cities, the villages and the places of worship that have been destroyed. ladies and gentlemen, our conference today is an opportunity of great importance, an opportunity to strengthen the

principles of human and humanitarian partnership and strengthen action based on a common will with a view to a world free of terrorism and fear of killings. i should once again like to thank the president of the french republic, francois hollande. ladies and gentlemen, i would like to express my thanks to all of you who have or are about to show solidarity with us. i hope the considerable efforts will allow us to meet our objectives. thank you. [ applause ] >> and with that handshake, the conference begins. we heard from francois hollande and from iraq, as well and the meeting begins so he went into more detail, john, about just the atrocities that they have seen from isis calling their

ideology detestable and really outlining all of the work that needs to come together. >> he he can choed a lot of what francois hollande said. we know this but restating it sets the tone for the meeting. in case you've been listening and getting confused because there are names being thrown around for isil. we refer to it as isis which is the islaming state in iraq and greater syria. the administration, the u.s. administration refers to it as isil which in the lovan and heard them refer to ig which is dash in arabic, dash and the israelis use that, so do a lot of israeli countries and refer to them as i.s. but many countries, islamic and arabic countries refuse to use that it's the same group. many names, but clear they are

now the focus of this conference. one thing which i thought was interesting coming from the iraqi president and he said he was asking for regular lahr air strikes which is what we understand is happening right now in iraq but he did say we must pursue them wherever they are. that could be read as some kind of reference to crossing the borders into syria to continue this fight. now, that obviously is a very contentious issue. very difficult issue. it does seem that the way it is shaping up right now there is a plan in iraq, the air strikes, the iraqi army on the ground, the peshmerga. that part seems to be coming together quite well. it is the syria part of the plan which will not be dealt with. fred pleitgen has been listening in. as they move forward in the coming hours we've had the tone set out. at the end of the day, what should we be looking for as a mark of achievement from this

gathering in paris? >> well, it's what francois hollande says. it will be a conference that will give all of these countries that will be part of the fight against isis and a part of the project to stabilize iraq and give it some sort of political stability for them to be very specific about what they're going to be able to contribute and if we listened in to francois hollande's speech, some will be able to provide humanitarian aid and said the humanitarian problem was one of the largest ones in all of this. he says that a lot of the people who are refugees now are going to need aid. of course, a lot of the countries have already provided some of that but he also said there is going to be a big military dimension to this as well. the french of course have said earlier they are also going to start reconnaissance flights over northern iraq. unclear whether or not those have taken off yet. they join the brits in all that and know the americans have had their air campaign as well and finally and i thought this was interesting because it was something that both francois

hollande and the iraqi president fuad masum said, isis is not only a threat to that region but also in european countries, as well, francois hol hollande andw that many people, muslims that live in europe are downright worried about the fact they have no access to their children anymore because they've been indoctrinated by the internet by this group so it's certainly something a big issue here in europe as well. but i'm actually totally with you, john, one of the things that intrigued me about the speeches i heard was the fact that they kept referencing the fighting isis wherever isis is, of course, you had fuad masum but also francois hollande that syria indeed part of the problem and they say they don't want to work with the assad government and believe that's part of the problem that created isis.

they want the moderates sir ran rebels to get the training they need and funding they need and weapons they need to be a force to combat against the isis threat, of course, whether or not it's already too late for that to happen, the rebels, of course, have been taking a pounding both by isis as well as the syrian government and of course there are also issues about whether or not you provide them weapons and they'll end up in the wrong hands but certainly it appears as though syria even though it's not officially part of this conference as you said, john, certainly is something that is going to be on the table, interestingly enough, there's basically no iranian presence, no, sirrian government presence here at that conference to speak of, john. >> iranians, which i thought was clearly, you know -- was clearly done. the iraqi president got up and thanked the iranians in the same breath he thanked the saudis and americans who didn't want the iranians to turn up. >> the international community must find a sustainable solution

where this started in syria. but, yes, the question remains is how they go about that. there also is the discussion as well, not just militarily, fred, but what they can do to cut off the money supply into isis and that involves turkey, oil and, of course, these ransom payments. >> reporter: it's very interesting that you say that, natalie. because turkey was one of the countries not mentioned by either of the two, by either masum or holp ande. between turkey and syria and turkey and iraq. of course, they control a lot of the border area between turkey and these two countries but also or the international community believes isis might be selling that oil on the black market and might go through turkey and isis still has 49 turkish hostages that were taken from the consulate in mosul so certainly

turkey is going to play a fundamental role in all of this. it's unclear, however, how prominent that role is going to be simply because they are in such a delicate situation but in general the u.s. expects and europe expects the middle eastern countries to play a very, very important role in this very large coalition to combat against isis simply because they know they will need the support of majority sunni muslim countries to give this whole operation that they're going to start here to give it credibility with the people on the ground because it is a sunni dominated area and a lot of the people who are on the ground quite frankly some of them have been cooperating with isis because they didn't see any other alternative. they've been treated very badly by the iraqi government in the past, by the government of nuri al maliki which is shia dominated and many simply made that calculation even though isis they don't believe isis is any good, they theyty it's terrible but seemed like the

lesser of two evils if you will and that's why masum kept talking about an inclusive political process where a lot of the people on the ground have to be persuaded that the iraqi government and its unity with the west and with other countries in that region is the better option than going with regional players like, for instance, isis, a lot of political work to be done. a lot of humanitarian work to be done. and, of course, there is a lot of military work to be done as the iraqi president said. >> fred, just quickly, we had to point out there's a number of initiatives ongoing right now. there's this conference in paris which is on iraq about stabilizing the situation, finding support for this new unity government. at the same time, but related to this, you have the secretary of state, the u.s. secretary of state john kerry who is in the region building a separate coalition. these two issues are not the same thing. >> reporter: no, they're absolutely not the same thing, certainly what the secretary of

state has been doing is part of a much broader process where the u.s. is taking a broad look at this. he's been in the middle east for the past couple of day, really for the past couple of weeks on and off going there. he's trying to build a very broad coalition. one of the countries he believes or some of the countries he believes are going to be linchpins is, of course, saudi arabia. it was a really big feat for the united states to get ten countries in that region to sign on to helping the united states combat isis. saudi arabia, of course, going to play a very prominent role in that by letting the u.s. train modera moderate syrian base, not clear whether it's too late for that. the moderate rebels have been all but marginalized there in the fight in syria. and also he said that egypt is going to be very important in all that, as well, because we do know that there is a weapons pipeline that goes from libya all the way into syrian territory that obviously keeps fueling the insurgencies going on in that country so certainly

the u.s. is making its own diplomatic efforts but at the same time this conference is, of course, very important to them, as well and the reason being what francois hollande stated they can be specific and coordinate what each is able to do to combat isis, again, some will try to stop their financing and others will offer humanitarian aid and others possibly are going to be part of a larger military campaign, things like air strikes and the big question is going to be are countries going to commit to putting boots on the ground there in iraq. john. >> much to follow and much to do. we thank you, fred pleitgen. we'll hear more from you as the conference begins. stay with cnn. q.

so again our development we saw live an international conference on the threat of isis getting under way in paris, the presidents of stance and iraq co-hosting. almost 40 countries have joined a coalition to fight the militants and i spoke with douglas oliver former director for iraq at the u.n. security council. colonel, once the u.s. goes on the offensive and once this strategy is in play, what's the assessment of how isis will react, how will they lash out, if you like, against the united states and against whoever else signs up for this coalition? >> well, certainly they'll try to find whatever asymmetric means they can to strike against

the powers that are using air power against them. they're certainly not going to be able to shoot back at the f-15s or f-16s and they'll try to kidnap westerners and use them as bargaining chips and they may try to strike at the european capitals or homeland. >> the strategy you mention which will be in play especially in iraq is pretty clear what the strategy is there. the strategy in syria not so clear and isn't that the biggest problem when we look at this plant which was outlined by the president. >> i think we'll see this unfold in two stages. we will open the campaign in iraq and there may be some limited air strikes in syria but just to cut off the support from syria to iraq, we're under no illusions air power will push isis out of syria alone. our opening face in iraq where

we do have a ground partner in the iraqi army and kurdish peshmerga will be used as the ground force with u.s. air power in support plus intelligence and planning and synchronization and other functions the u.s. will help them with in baghdad and irbil push them out of iraq again with limited relatively limited air strikes in syria to start. i think it's going to take much more time to work out the politics in syria. >> and that's when the allies on the ground come into focus. that's when that coalition is really important and that coalition seems to be an uneasy alliance at best and agree isis is bad news but the turks don't really like the saudis, the egyptians or am ratties and not mentioning the complication of iran. >> right, it is far from clear that isis is the number one concern of everyone in this coalition. everyone in this coalition does hate isis and would be happy to see them go away but it's not clear, for example, that the

iraqi sunnis still are more concerned about isis than they are about baghdad. it's not clear that the saudis are more concerned about isis than they are about iran so this will be a very, very interesting coalition to try to hold together. >> interesting to say the least. >> absolutely. >> it is a coalition, how willing this coalition will be, those countries like jordan, egypt, the emiratis, these are the countries most threatened by isis. at this point they're giving their support but not actually putting boots on the ground which people keep talking about. >> kerry indicated that's one thing he'll be watching and hoping for so we'll wait and see. >> you've been watching cnn special coverage. i'm john vause. >> and i'm natalie allen. "cnn newsroom" is next. >> "early start" begins after this break.

the war on isis. happening right now, world leaders meeting on how to cripple the terror organization days after it executed its latest hostage. this morning, what other countries will and will not do to help in this fight. this as we learn new information on just how close british investigators are to identifying the isis executioner. good morning. welcome to "early start." i'm john berman. >> i'm christine romans. it is monday, september 15th, 4:00 a.m. in the east. let's starts with the build to gain coalition. secretary of state john kerry in paris for a conference