flares. they are celebrating nasa's solar dynamic observatory. well thanks so much for being part of the real story. i'm gretchen carlson and now we're heading over to shepard smith. >> thank you, gretchen. president obama is about to explain to all of us why he's doing it. we'll have the president live in just minutes from the white house and why some lawmakers say this plan has problems. plus american paratroopers heading to a war zone. the pentagon now confirms hundreds of our soldiers are going to deploy to ukraine. we'll fill you in on their mission. also, the state department is forced to close down the embassy in yemen as it is going deeper into chaos. wait until you hear what happened after they left. let's get to it. >> announcer: live from the fox news desk. >> good wednesday afternoon. president obama is asking congress to sign off on using

limited combat troops in the fight against isis. now he's said to make his case to all of us. the president is scheduled to make his statement from the white house at 3:30 eastern time this afternoon but he may be a little late. we're expecting him to outline these requests to congress for official authorization to fight the islamic state. the united states and it is allies have been bombing isis targets for months now. but president obama called for lawmakers to approve the use of force to show that the u.s. is unified in this fight. the white house proposal leaves the door open for american troops in ground combat. something president obama has said he will not allow. any use of ground troops would be limited. the white house says it would allow for things like rescue operations and targeting specific isis leaders. the top democrat in the house of representatives says those limitations are necessary. but the house speaker, john boehner, a republican, argues that the restrictions could tie the military's hands. >> i'm not sure if it's a

strategy that's been outlined will accomplish the mission that the president needs to accomplish. the president's point is that he wants to dismantle destroy isis. i haven't seen a strategy yet that i think will accomplish that. >> we hope to have bipartisan support for something that would limit the power of the president but, nonetheless, protect the american people in a very strong way. >> in a letter to lawmakers, president obama mentioned the islamic state's brutality and brought up the four hostages that died, most beheaded for the world to see and says that isis could pose a threat to the united states homeland. military officials are warning that the islamic state brand is spreading faster than al qaeda ever has. general john allen, the official coordinating the fight, told abc news that the terror group is quote, at an entirely different level than al qaeda.

general allen points out that isis has more command and control. we'll going to mike emanuel on capitol hill but first, tell us why the language of the president's requests matters so much here. >> well, because this whole exercise is supposed to bring clarity, the white house says, to the fight against isis. we've already been fighting them for about six months without a new authorization for the use of military force. but despite the search for clarity, josh earnest today said the language is intentionally fuzzy. why will it be fuzzy, the president wants flexibility, as you noted to potentially have combat troops in search and rescue, other potential situations like that. he explained this earlier. listen. >> we believe it's important that there aren't overly burdensome restraints placed on the commander in chief who needs to respond to contingencies that

emerge. >> some democrats are suggesting, wait a second, that opens the door to combat troops and this could end up being mission creep shepard. >> the president is concerned about the limits and not only for this president but whoever the next president is. >> specifically the timeline that is in here, which is that it would only last for three years. and you have some lawmakers, john boehner and other military experts saying wait a minute, this is going to be a long fight against isis. why would you limit it to three years. listen. >> he wants a three-year limit on this authorization. that's a poison pill for the next president be it hillary, a republican or whoever. as soon as the next president hits the ground, they've got to go for another authorization of military force with all of the other stuff on their plate. >> the white house says that's fine, actually. they want to set it up so that the next president, democrat or

republican, and the next congress, whether democrats or republicans are in charge, have to debate this again and vote on it. so this president is not setting up a decade-long war, something that the country has been weary about. >> let's turn to capitol hill now. >> republicans are openly asking if the president's plan goes far enough but gop says they will give it careful consideration. >> it was clear from the onset that to defeat isil will require a multi-year effort. and because congress must meet its responsibility to decide whether our military should use force, the senate will reviewe president's request thoughtfully. >> reporter: the bigger issue may be the president's fellow democrats who worry a vote of authorization could lead to a long war. >> i'm concerned about the

breadth and vagueness of the ground troop language. the limitation against enduring combat operations suggesting that all defensive ground combat operations are okay. >> expect a great deal of debate on capitol hill and expect hearings where lawmakers will ask military commanders for their input. shep? >> officials have said that they are concerned about the thousands of people who are joining isis and other terror groups all over that region. >> reporter: that's right. from staggering numbers 20,000 foreign fighters is the last estimate. at least 3400 from foreign or western countries and despite all of the air strikes, there's no shortage of manpower for isis. >> it's no longer restricted to northern syria and western iraq. at present, we are unaware of any specific credible or

imminent threat to the homeland. however, recent events have demonstrated the need for increased vigilance both at home and abroad. shep? >> mike thank you. let's turn to fox news contributor, personal assistant to president oem andbama. and dating back to president reagan's administration. mr. ambassador thank you. >> thank you. >> a lot of this is about ground troops. our military leaders have said you can't do this without ground troops. they say there's only an ideological solution here. where do you see us? >> well i think both -- right. on the one hand, you're not going to be able to defeat a force like this only from the air. you're going to have to defeat it on the ground. clearly we want -- we want arab

armies to be doing that. and many of them, whether it's the iraqis or those that we will help in syria, many don't have a great deal of experience engaging this kind of warfare, particularly urban warfare. so they are going to need help and they may need americans on the ground maybe as trainers or helping them plan the operations. that's one element of this. and it's basically an indispensable element of it. by itself in the end, it's not sufficient because this is also an ideological struggle. we have to defeat their ideology. one way to do that is to show that they are losing. isis claims they are on a divine mission. and if they are on a divine mission, they shouldn't be losing. so the more you begin to inflict on them, the more you begin to undercut their appeal. right now they have an appeal that they have been successful been able to establish a caliphate, they've been able to establish themselves in a wide

swath of territory in syria and iraq. that can't come only from the air. >> you know, many corporations have taught us the lessons that many battles are won in marketing. and this group seems to be proving that to be true even in a sort of war. now, i don't hear any of our leaders saying we must get better by sending the message and here's where we must do it. where is that element? >> you know, i think it is there. i know for example a lot of the counter terror efforts made within the state department and by the counter terror units within the administration have become extremely active on twitter and all different forms of social media. they are trying to compete with isis in terms of that medium which isis has proven itself to be far more adept at much more slick at than any previous incarnations. the fact is, i don't think we've given this as much exposure as we might and i think we need to focus on the marketing aspect, on the branding aspect, on the

framing aspect. and i've said to you before, one way again to undercut this group is to show that they are not in a divine mission. we know, for example, that in many cases we've had isis fighters surrender to the kurds but we don't have pictures of them. if we had pictures of them surrendering with their hands up. >> maybe hand out weapons and iphones. >> well it's a piece of it. it's actually a piece of it. >> mr. ambassador, thank you. >> my pleasure. if these are the best spies that vladimir putin has, then we have nothing to worry about. three russians accused of working with the kremlin right here in manhattan, part of their mission, apparently to recruit young women. didn't go well. perhaps moscow should have sent more -- well dapper agents or equipped them with tender? the news coming up from the courthouse ahead from the fox news desk.

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even left. as it went down, it appears from these pictures we're getting from sky force 7, wsvn, the news station in florida, these are live pictures now that it clipped some trees or at least a phone pole there. you can see a lot of rescue workers on scene but whoever was in that did not have a good day. when we get more details on this, whether there were any injuries or deaths, we'll let you know. an accused russian secret agent pleaded not guilty to charges that he was part of a sloppy spy ring that tried and failed to recruit young women. prosecutors say the man posed as a banker here in new york city while working undercover for two other russian spies. those two spies had repeatedly failed to recruit women and college-aged co-eds. one agent was caught saying that he had to have sex with the women but couldn't get close enough to them.

one said he didn't have a fake identity and thought the job would be more like a james bond movie. investigators say they spotted the spies on a sting operation. one spy testified that it all seemed like a trap. in lower manhattan, what happened in court today, lea? >> reporter: some of the evidence is classified and they plan to release the unclassified evidence in the next couple of weeks. now, you can see in the court sketch from today the man on the right, our producer in the courtroom said he was dressed in blue prison garb. he appeared calm and smiled a few times and made contact with three representatives of the russian consulate of new york.

he didn't speak today except to acknowledge that he understands english enough so he doesn't need a translator. he's charged with conspiracy and acting as an unregistered agent and could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. >> there are two other accused spies as well. what's up with them? >> reporter: well, shep they are no longer here in the u.s. for those of us who have served in the intelligence community, they were here under what is known as official cover. in other words, that they were registered agents of the russian federation. and that essentially gives them diplomat tech immunity which protects them from being arrested and prosecuted in the u.s. but doesn't keep our government from charging them. they are charged with transmitting intelligence to moscow and the distinction between this one and the other two is that he was here and

essentially as a private citizen and being a nonofficial cover agent and that's illegal. shep? >> thanks very much. appreciate it. the one accused russian spy sits in a jail cell and hundreds of u.s. troops are set to hit the ground in ukraine. boots on the ground in ukraine. so what will they be doing there? that's next. you know, just because your bladder is changing, it doesn't mean you have to. with tena, let yourself go. be the one with the crazy laugh. and keep being their favorite playmate. with tena's unique super absorbent micro beads that lock in moisture and odor... tena lets you be you. [ male announcer ] legalzoom has helped start over 1 million businesses.

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during an attack on a bus station earlier today in the rebel-held city of donetsk and the ukrainian government said that heavy shelling killed 19 troops at a key transportation hub northeast of donetsk. this comes as vladimir putin and western leaders attended crucial peace talks. >> translator: we are here for peace but if we need to defend our land we will do it until the end. and i think that, unfortunately, we need to be ready for both options. >> presidentthis is a four-way summit. russia, france germany and ukraine. william taylor is a former u.s. ambassador to ukraine and joins us live. any hope here? >> of course there's hope. we can hope that mr. putin will see that he has a big problem

down the line and under the auspices of the german and french to agree with poroshenko. i think you have to discount it a bit because he's not adhered to you but he wouldn't be there, they wouldn't be there if there wasn't any hope. >> paratroopers on the ground. is that the wise thing? >> i think it's a very wise thing. it's not a new thing. when i was in ukraine, there were military formations, u.s. military formations training with ukrainians. this is not new. as you said, general hodges indicates they are hoping to -- one of the things that they are hoping to train the ukrainians on is how to defend themselves against artillery. now, the best defenses is to fire back at the artillery shooting at you and the best way to fire back at artillery is to

have very precise weapons to fire back at the russian military. >> did a bunch of reading on this region and it looks to me like there are small villages of 3, 400 people where they don't have anything left. there's no food or water or electricity. there's no jobs. it sounds as if there's about to be a real catastrophe there. >> shep you're right. there's a humanitarian disaster on both sides of the line. these are innocent civilians that have been caught by the -- and the problem is totally folk neighboring country and annexed crimea. >> again and again you hear from people on the ground there saying, we didn't have any idea this was going to last this long. we figured we could hold out a week or two until this settles down. do you see any settling down in the future? is it clear what putin wants? clear

what putin wants. some people wonder if he knows what putin wants. he's taken advantage of weakness. the ukrainians were weak after their president fled to russia and mr. putin put some sanctions on them. >> mr. ambassador, thank you. >> thank you. the president is about to speak on his proposals for the battle against isis. the president asking congress to sign off on the plan. we'll get a live update from the white house and we're now told that it's believed that the president will be on time this afternoon. so we're just moments away. a quick commercial break. live coverage of that coming up. s is a great opportunity for an upgrade. sound good? great. because you're not you you're a whole airline... and it's not a ticket you're upgrading it's your entire operations, from domestic to international... which means you need help from a whole team of advisors. from workforce strategies to tech solutions and a thousand other things.

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what'd you guys do today? the usual! ♪ osteo bi-flex, ready for action. [ male announcer ] at northrop grumman, we've always been at the forefront of advanced electronics. providing technology to get more detail... ♪ ♪ detect hiddethreats... ♪ ♪ see the whole picture... ♪ ♪ process critical information and put it in the has of our defenders. reaching constantly evolving threatbefore they reach us. that's the value of performance. northrop grumman. a feud over a parking space led the man to open fire yesterday in chapel hill. the three students are muslim.

police say they do not believe it was a hate crime but they are still investigating. little league took away the national title from the scene last summer. officials from jackie robinson west in chicago recruited players outside its boundaries. chicago's mayor rahm emanuel says the players will always be champions in his city. and nasa will launch again from cape canaveral and try to recover the rocket to use again. the company tried to have a rocket land on an offshore platform last month but it exploded. live to the white house next, the president will lay out his plans for isis.

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terrorist from isis. it's a live look at the white house. the president is expected to come to the podium at any moment. as we reported, the proposal opens the door for american troops on the ground but in a limbed limited capacity. the white house. let's go to ed henry. a lot of things led up to this it's my understanding? >> no doubt about it shep. they may have a problem with not just republicans but democrats as well. a close-up close supporter of this president, beyond that this could extend into going after isis not just in iraq syria, countries throughout the middle east and elsewhere the

president wants that flexibility because they don't know how farther going to have to take this fight. also, josh earnest told me that they have a three-year ending for this authorization and are you going to beat isis by then and they say they don't think so. they realize this is a much longer term fight, shep. >> where do things stand now? >> i spoke to a senior republican aid who says that the president does not have the support right now. they are also concerned about -- you've heard ted cruz and other republicans say, rand paul, where are we going long term with this and then on the left, they are very concerned that this could become a decade long

war. we're told the president and vice president and others are going to have to take them to the hill and the campaign starts here from the white house in selling the public. >> stay with us. let's bring in our analyst. the president wants this authorization from the congress and wants it to show unity. does he need it? >> no in my opinion he doesn't need it. there are two authorizations from military force still out there. the one in 2001 is just to authorize rise george w. bush. the pursuit of people that attacked us on 9/11. the one in 2002 george h.w. bush both argued with some sense and reason behind it gives them the authority that they need to fight anybody anywhere in the war on terror. this is an unnatural and

unwanted position that barack obama is putting himself into. he's about to address the nation and he was elected to do the opposite of. he was elected to bring troops home according to his campaign, and now he's asking for permission to send troops over there, to become a commander-in-chief in wartime. whether it's right or wrong in that respect history will decide. >> it may have already because one thing that seems very clear at this point, partisan politics aside, were it not for the war in eye being ra isis would not exist. >> i don't think anybody can dispute that shep. >> so that's the reason that so many of our allies overseas are concerned, the reason that some of those of capitol hill are concerned when we turned over the bucket in iraq and created this thing, what will we create here and how far will this spread? >> well, as ed henry so nicely

reminded us there is no consensus on what the resolution must say. the president needs a consensus, a strong majority from both parties in both houses of congress about the extent of his powers and the limitations on his powers. the kid used vague language like, there should be no enduring use of ground forces. what does that mean? one year, two years? you can't use vague language like that. >> josh earnest owned up to, yes and he came out and said, it was refreshing, yes, it's vague language. it's vague for a reason. >> you're right. he said it's intentionally murky. they want to make it fuzzy because they want to leave the door open and give the president flexibility. that's why, as so rightly pointed out, they are saying wait a second fuzziness, we don't want this to be mission creep. i find it interesting that the president is selling this, the nation back to war, essentially,

as a nobel peace prize war and the president may be backsliding on his promises about the number of troops he's pulling out of afghanistan. we're going to do this differently than george w. bush and yet they are going back to war to fight isis and, number two, they are talking about bringing troops back home from afghanistan and the fight is still not over there. >> those who will live and die on politic also not be happy that the policies of the last season are mirrored in the policies of this administration. there are many, many more similarities than there are differences. for our viewers at home, i want everyone to know we've gotten a two-minute warning and hundreds of stations across the country that are not affiliated directly with us here at the fox newschannel, they are going to be joining us and are in on our coverage. here we go. i'm shepard smith in new

york. this is president's plea to congress. we're joining you this afternoon because the president is going to lay out his strategy on how to deal with isis. here's the issue. the president wants an authorization from the congress to go in and begin this war. he wants specific limitations. as you probably know, the president of the united states has said we do not want ground troops from the united states in on this fight. we have been carrying out an air campaign for the better part of the last six months against isis targets in both iraq and in syria. but the president wants a show of unity from both houses of congress and from the executive branch that we will go after isis in limited ways with limited scope. the interesting thing is that there's no consensus on what this authorization might look like exactly. they put out what the white house called a sort of murky vision of it today. there are some on capitol hill who believe there should be some strict limitations. there are others who believe the

murk murkiness of it all does not go far enough or whether we should be able, under this authorization, to go beyond the boundaries of those two countries and, third, this would just last three years, this authorization. some worry that is not long enough. the president has said that this conflict may go on for many years to come. so today the selling begins for the americans and congress and it's for the united states to do exactly that. we're expecting that he'll speak for just about ten minutes and lay out his plan and after that we'll hear from members of congress about exactly where they think he went right and exactly where they think he went wrong. now the president. >> good afternoon. today, as part of an international coalition of some 60 nations, including arab countries, our men and women in

uniform continue to fight against isil in syria. we're disrupting their command and control and supply lines making it harder for them to move. we're destroying their fighting positions, their tanks, their vehicles, their barracks their training camps and the oil and gas facilities that fund their operations. we're taking out their commanders, their fighters and their leaders. in iraq local forces have helped and in some cases have pushed isil back. in syria isil failed in its major push to take the town of kobani losing countless fighters in the process fighters who will never again threaten innocent civilians. we've seen reports of sinking morale among isil fighters as they realize the futility of their cause. make no mistake, this is a difficult mission and it will

remain difficult for some time. it's going to take time to dislodge these terrorists, especially from urban areas. but our coalition is on the offensive. isil is on the defensive and isil is going to lose. its barbaric murders of so many people, including hostages are desperate and revolting attempt to never be won over by its ideas or ideology because it offers nothing but misery and death and destruction. and with vile groups like this, there is only one option to ultimately degrade and destroy this terrorist group. when i announced my strategy against isil in step accepteptember, my administration submitted a draft resolution to congress to authorize the use of force against isil. i want to be very clear about

what it does and what it does not do. this resolution reflects our core objective to destroy isil. it supports the comprehensive strategy that we've been pursing with our allies and our partners. a systemic and sustained air campaign in syria, support and training for local forces on the ground including the moderate syrian opposition, preventing isil attacks in the region and beyond including by foreign terrorist fighters who try to threaten our countries, regional and international support for an inclusive iraq government that strengthens the iraqi forces against isil. humanitarian assistance for the independent innocent civilians who are suffering to horribly. i want to thank vice president biden, secretaries hagel and kerry for implementing our

strategy. even as we meet this challenge in iraq and syria, we all agree that one of our weapons against terrorists like isil, a critical part of our strategy, is the values we live here at home. one of the best anecdotes to the hateful ideologies that try to recruit and radicalize people to violent extremism is our own example as tolerant societies that welcome the contribution of all people including people of all faiths. the resolution we submitted today does not call for the deployment of u.s. ground combat forces to iraq or syria. it is not the authorization of another ground war like afghanistan or iraq. the 2600 american troops in iraq today largely serve on bases. and yes, they face the risks that come with service in any dangerous environment but they do not have a combat mission. they are focused on training iraqi forces including kurdish

forces. as i've said before i'm convinced that the united states should not get dragged back into another prolonged ground war in the middle east. that's not in our national security interests and it's not necessary for us to defeat isil. on the ground who know their countries best are best positioned to take the ground fight to isil and that's what they are doing. at the same time, this resolution strikes the necessary balance by giving us the flexibility we need for unforeseen circumstances. for example if we had actionable intelligence about a gathering of isil leaders and our partners didn't have the capacity to get them, i would be prepared to order our special forces to take action because i will not allow these terrorists to have the safe haven. so we need flexibility but we also have to be careful and deliberate. and there's no heavier decision than asking our men and women in uniform to risk their lives on

our behalf. as commander in chief i will only send our troops into harm's way when it's for or national security. the force for the invasion of iraq and limits this new authorization to three years. i do not believe america's interests are served by endless war or by remaining on a perpetual war footing. as a nation, we need to ask the difficult and necessary questions about when, why and how we use military force. after all, it is our troops who bear the costs of our decisions and we owe them a clear strategy and support they need to get the job done. so this resolution will give our armed forces and coalition the couldn't continuity we need for the next three years. it is not a timetable. it is not announcing that the mission is completed at any

given period. what it is saying is that congress should revisit the issue at the beginning of the next president's term. it's conceivable that the mission is completed earlier it's conceivable that after deliberation, debate and evaluation, that there are additional tasks to be carried out in this area. and the people's representatives with a new president should be able to have that discussion. in closing, i want to say that in crafting this resolution, we have consulted with and listened to both republicans and democrats in congress. we made a sincere effort to address difficult issues that we've discussed together and the days and weeks ahead we'll continue to work closely with leaders and members of congress on both sides of the aisle. i believe this resolution can grow even stronger with the thoughtful and dignified debate that this moment demands.

i'm optimistic that it can win strong bipartisan support and that we can show our troops and the world that americans are united in this mission. today, our men and women in uniform continue the fight against isil and we salute them for their courage shousous service. we stand with their families who miss them and are sacrificing here at home. know this, our coalition is strong, our cause is just and our mission will succeed. and long after the terrorists we face today are destroyed and forgotten, america will continue to stand free and tall and strong. may god bless our troops and may god bless the united states of america. thank you very much, everybody. >> the president at the white house laying out his case for a use of force resolution for the united states congress. that is the beginning the very beginning. now congress must come together with some sort of the decision on this matter.

for those of you watching on our local fox or my station, we'll return you to your regular programming on fox newschannel, on satellite and cable, continuing coverage. for now, i'm shepard smith fox news, new york. and now on fox news channel, we'll look at what comes next. ed henry from the white house and our analyst here on set. ed, to you first. what happens now in congress? >> reporter: the president has a heck of a job to roll-up the sleeves and get the votes. he says he's optimistic but can he get there? this is the obama doctrine. a, i'm not george w. bush. b, no endless ground wars. the thing they talked about a couple months ago, don't do stupid stuff. republican critics say that's not really a strategy to get it done. how do you actually win, shep when you say we're not going to have u.s. ground troops? as you were noting a moment ago the white house is boasting

about the fact that there's fuzzy language in this authorization for the use of military force. that fuzzy language is being picked apart by democrats who fear it's so fuzzy it will be mission creep and republicans picking it apart saying what is the strategy to actually win? the final point i would make is the president was very aggressive in saying isis is on defense. we're on offense and he specifically said, they are going going to lose. however, the associated press had a report saying that the coalition's bombing campaign is not stopping the flow of foreign fighters going in and helping isis and trying to launch terror attacks in western europe and the united states. so look, what have we accomplished so far? that is still an open question. a very aggressive president today that we're going to win but as speaker john boehner said today, does he have the strategy to back it up. shep? >> ed henry, hang fight. the president said the proposal is a systemic air campaign

sustain and support our partners on the ground, that would be the moderate syrians, iraqi army and others, make sure there's regional support for an inclusive iraq government and though there are signs that they are working towards such a thing, this inclusive iraqi government is a huge sticking point and it has been thus far, elusive. case in point we support the kurds in the north they are fighting very well to hear from our military leaders to hear from our politicians, they are our friends. and we want to be able to give them the help that they need but you have to go through the iraqi government because iraq is one thing and the iraqi government which is of a different set, is not allowing that process to happen quickly enough and the kurds are extremely trussfrustrated in the north. the fifth is humanitarian aid because there is a humanitarian

crisis which we are woefully undercovering which has to do with spread of diseases and malnutrition and lack of housing and on and on, everything that goes on with a war like this, those are the five points of the proposal. he said that there will be no ground forces authorized by this use of force proposal but the fact is, and he didn't mention this, but they wouldn't be prohibited either. for some that's a sticking point. >> well, it's a strong sticking point. under the constitution and the law, once the congress authorizes the use of military force, it cannot tell the president how he uses that military force. so whatever resolution they adopt, unless there's an expressed statement in there, you may not use ground troops and they are not going to put that in there. >> no. >> the president has the discretion to use ground troops on his own. look, we know that compromise and negotiation is already going on. how do we know that? because the resolution the white house submitted last night did not repeal the authorization use

of military force in 2002. >> in iraq? >> correct. the resolution of which the president spoke ten minutes ago does repeal it. so the negotiations president's words does repeal it. the negotiations with fearful democrats and hawkish republicans is going on as we speak. the president needs consensus and congress needs to know, no matter what proms the president makes, once you authorize the use of military force, it's all in the president's hands, it's all his judgment he can unleash and restrain as he sees fit. . . . >> a lot to die gust and politicians we must speak judge napolitano, ed henry. bret bear will have coverage of this tonight 6:00 eastern tonight on "special report with bret bearaierbaier." in yemen a state of uncertainty. the united states has closed its embassy in the capital city. the rebels have seized the american vehicles. yemen has teetered and fallen

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works. works! works? works. works. so the president has laid out his proposal for a congressional authorization for use of force against isis terrorists in both iraq and syria. not far away, armed rebels grabbed vehicles from the american embassy in yemen after dip pats evacuated that country. that's what a pentagon official is telling fox news. he also says u.s. marines handed over their weapons to government officials at the airport. of course rebels backed by iran are now running the yemeni government. the u.s. france and nighted kingdom are shutting down embassies in the capital city

sanaa. last week, houthi rebels took power in yemen and resolved the yemeni parliament. u.s. officials say yemen is home to al qaeda's most dangerous branch. conner powell covers the middle east and is live at his post in jerusalem. pentagon officials say counterterror operations will continue there, right? >> that's correct. it's important to remember sort of what's going on. the houthi rebels are linked to iran and shia muslims, but they also are vehemently anti-al qaeda and while the pentagon said today operations have taken a hit with the chaos and instability the u.s. has signalled in recent weeks they are willing to work with the houthi rebels in large part because they see al qaeda in the exact same way and while they're linked to iran and really don't have the support of other sunni countries like saudi arabia, which see these houthi rebels as a really big problem on the southern part of their country the u.s. may not have any choice but to continue to work with these houthi rebels in large part because al qaeda is seem in

yemen as the serious problem. so going forward, while there is some concern about the security and the situation there the military, the u.s. military, saying they probably could work with the houthi rebels going forward and it's a signal we're seeing out of diplomats, just need to make sure that they are willing to work with the united states. they may not be the enemy that everybody is portraying them to be, at least in terms of fighting al qaeda, shepard. >> let's help not. conner powell in yum thank you. a look at this day in history and a check of the markets after this.

on this ta in 1990 nelson mandela walked out of prison. he served 27 years on charges of sabotage for leading the fight to end racial segregation in south africa. he spent most of that time in a cell that didn't have a bed or plumbing. he can meet with just one visitor each year. still, he remained the symbol of the anti-apartheid movement four years after his release voters made him the country's first black president and nelson

mandela was finally free. 25 years ago today. when news breaks out we'll break in because breaking news changes everything on fox news channel. the dow's finishing mostly flat on a session that was mostly down. stay tuned, news continues. they're barbarians and i think the barbarians were at the gate. it's possible that there areeater numbers of foreign fighters and potentially greater numbers of individuals from western countries and the united states who have traveled to the conflict zones. >> there is a number that we don't know about. the ones we know about the numbers of foreign fighters that have returned from syria from the conflict zone every single one of those is a predicated fbi investigation run on a joint terrorism task force. >> we know they're fighting with isis, we don't know how many could be back here right now fighting us.